


Thunderbird

by peacensafety



Series: Memphis [3]
Category: GTOP (Band)
Genre: M/M, Magic, Magician!Jiyong, Memphis 'verse, Other, Southern Gothic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 02:38:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacensafety/pseuds/peacensafety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The third in the Memphis 'verse, Seunghyun finds out about his grandparents, meets his cousin, and strengthens his relationship with Jiyong and their daughter, Wink. Dongwook gets over Seunghyun after meeting Seunghyun's cousin, Tokala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

August 16, 1972

These people were different, Joseph thought to himself as he watched the woman in the garden. The white people who had lived in the house had moved out two summers ago, and in their place a new family had moved in, complete with servants from the country they had come from. Koreans. 

Joseph knew all about Koreans. He had been to the country before, courtesy of the United States Army. Joseph had been placed in charge of training his own group of Green Berets, and so many Asians mistook Joseph as one of their own he was often sent to all of the different countries over there to scope out the situation before the military moved in. 

This new family had a servant girl that called to him, though. She tended plants much like his mother had done, coaxing them to grow by singing them cradle songs. He assumed that they were cradle songs, anyway. He couldn’t speak the language she was using. 

She was beautiful, small, and delicate. Her skin was golden, her hair a long shining black wing down her back, her eyes hauntingly reminiscent of the women in family. She always wore a simple dress, the same pattern in different fabrics, every day of the week. She waited until she was alone to take her shoes off and sink her toes into the soil of the gardens, an action that Joseph appreciated. 

She found him watching her for the first time in the rose garden, even though he had been watching her for a week. She was waiting for the owners of the house to pass through at the hedge, so she didn’t say anything when she looked up and saw him watching her. Her mouth opened in a little ‘O’ as she saw him staring at her, and he was entranced by the cupid’s bow on her top lip. 

She waited until they were gone, and then she moved quickly and silently towards him. “What you doing here?” she asked in her broken English, much like his mother’s attempts to speak English.

“Your heart calls to mine, haven’t you felt it?” he answered honestly, the stark truth falling from his lips.

“You are not Asian, what you is?” she asked, fearfully looking around her ‘lest she be caught.

“I am the other half of your soul,” Joseph answered, looking deeply into her eyes, as black as his own, as he raised a shaking hand to touch her cheek.

“I cannot,” she said, tears filling her eyes. She knew that this man in front of her was right, that they were made for each other, and a deep longing suffused her entire being while he was in her presence. 

Joseph’s hand paused. Sorrow filled his body. “I should not touch you, then.” 

The girl nodded, as beautiful crystal tears fell down her cheeks. 

“I will leave you then, and continue to journey,” Joseph paused. “First, let me have your name, so that I know what name to pray for when I ask God tonight to grant me my only wish.”

“My name is Sujeong,” she said. “Im Sujeong.”

“My Sujeong,” Joseph repeated, giving into temptation and touching a strand of her hair. “I am Joseph. Joseph Wakinyan.”

Sujeong looked confused at the unfamiliar surname, but she touched his hand, marveling at how her skin shone gold next to the copper of his. Sujeong heard the sound of a breaking branch behind her, and she quickly turned around to see who was there. She looked, but she couldn’t see who might have been there. “It is no one…” she turned to tell Joseph, but had to duck as a raven flew right over her head.

Joseph was gone. 

 

February 10, 2011

“You need to turn your hamburger patty over or its going to get burned, Winky-poo,” Dongwook looked over the little girl’s shoulder as she cooked at her mini-stove next to his real stove.

“I know,” she said cheerfully, carefully scooping the plastic beef patty with her blue spatula. She turned it over, kind of, as it spun off and made a large circle on the floor. As she was chasing it, Mr. Kwon had to step over her tiny body. She happily put the toy back on her stove and pushed a button that lit up with a red LED. 

“You looked a little stressed out, Mr. Kwon,” Dongwook looked up as the man he regarded as a father sat down. 

“I am, a little, Dongwook,” Mr. Kwon said. “I’ve been having some problems with this case.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Jiyong asked his dad, who wasn’t actually his dad but had raised him, as he sat across from him. 

Dongwook set plates of bell peppers, refried beans, jalapenos, grated cheese, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, taco meat, and tortilla chips in front of them. Taemin and Onew let themselves into the house, dirty from working on the grounds, and Mr. Choi followed them soon after. 

“Where’s Seunghuyn?” Dongwook asked.

“He’s working late at the office, he has a spread he has to finish,” Mr. Choi answered.

“I’m working a murder case for one of my clients. The guy is a total bastard, but I just can’t figure out how in the world he managed to do what he is being accused of.”

“What are the charges?” Jiyong asked his father. 

Taemin and Onew washed up at the kitchen sink, flicking soap bubble at each other as they chatted in Korean. Mr. Choi waited until they were done, and then turned the water all the way to hot so that he could work on the grease under his fingernails with a scrub brush that they kept at the edge of the sink for just such a purpose. 

“The bastard apparently exsanguinated three corpses in a fifteen minute time period,” Mr. Kwon said.

Jiyong frowned. “I’m not a doctor, but that sounds completely impossible,” Jiyong said with a furrowed brow.

“Exsanguinated? Completely removed the blood from his victims?” Dongwook asked, making sure that he had heard correctly.

“Yes,” Mr. Kwon said. “He says that he wasn’t even there, but he lies about so many things that sometimes I wonder if he even knows what the truth is.”

Seunghyun walked into the kitchen right as Jiyong said, “It’s probably vampires…”

Seunghyun looked at everyone sitting around the table, took a deep breath, and then turned around to walk out again. 

“Daddy!” Wink said, sliding down from her chair to run and wrap her salsa covered hands around his gray trousered leg. 

“Why were you leaving, Hyunnie?” Jiyong asked.

“You remember the last time you said vampires around me? I had a black eye and a cast on my leg for three months. I already have a cast on my arm now, I was just acting out of self-preservation,” Seunghyun said, pulling his briefcase off of his shoulder and setting it next to the door. He pulled Wink up with his good arm and settled her on his hip, giving her a kiss for a greeting. “Hello, precious,” he said to her in his playful voice.

“Hyunnine, that’s not fair. I didn’t say that you had to fight them…”

“I had to fight them or they were going to bite you,” Seunghyun complained, looking at Jiyong exasperated.

“You boys fought vampires before?” Mr. Kwon asked, surprised.

Jiyong looked down at his plate, “Yeah, before you and mom sent him off to Georgia… right before he turned 18…”

Mr. Kwon looked speculatively at Seunghyun. “I probably don’t want to know, but how did that go?”

“Well, dad used to make me do Tae Kwon Do katas with him in the back yard before I left, and I just kind of…” Seunghyun shrugged, not really wanting to talk about that fight. It was scary and there were too many of them and they were all so strong…

“He was my hero…” Jiyong said, looking at his boyfriend with googly eyes.

“I want to hear this story,” Dongwook said, smiling broadly.

“You really don’t,” Seunghyun said, washing his hands at the kitchen sink before he sat down. He dished the American version of Mexican ingredients on his plate and then took a handful of tortilla chips to scoop them up. 

“So there really are vampires in Memphis?” Mr. Kwon asked, his legal mind processing the ramifications of such a situation. “I won’t need to prove their existence, I just need to prove that my client didn’t do it.”

Seunghyun chewed for a minute, and then took a swig of the Corona beer that Dongwook had taken the bottle cap off of and smeared the lip with a slice of lime. “The fight itself was strange. I had kicked a few of them and flipped a few others over. I didn’t really hurt any of them seriously, and I had a black eye… but there was some sort of signal and they all disappeared into the night. I didn’t stick around to see what had happened, I just grabbed Jiyong and ran to my car, and I sped away from there.”

Dongwook looked disappointed. “No where near as sexy as I hoped it would be,” he stated with a pout.

Seunghyun crossed his eyes at Dongwook before he continued eating. 

Mr. Kwon looked concerned. “That means that they have some sort of political structure instead of being a simple group of people. And I might have to get one of them to explain to me what happened… do you think that you could convince one of them to talk to me?”

“Number one, I am not going to go downtown hunting vampires,” Seunghyun said. “Number two, the café that we met them at has now gone out of business. Number three, I will not allow Jiyong to go downtown hunting vampires. There is no way that we can fulfill your request,” Seunghyun said, giving a look to Mr. Kwon to indicate that he did not appreciate being asked such a thing. “Vampires are not like the sparkly things that the media wants us to believe in. There are no vegetarian vampires. They are ruthless killers that thrive on the crime rate here in Memphis. They appear anywhere that the law is not in charge…”

“How do you know all this, Seunghyun?” Dongwook asked, fascinated.

“I grew up here,” Seunghyun shrugged. “I know people who know people…”

“Hyung used to hang out with gang members,” Jiyong said, “back when he used to rap…”

Seunghyun looked over at his dad, who gave him a bad look. “I wish you wouldn’t have hung out with gang members…” 

Seunghyun looked down at his plate. “They aren’t all bad, dad…”

Mr. Choi cleared his throat, but he didn’t say anything else. He continued to eat what Dongwook had prepared.

Jiyong grinned at Seunghyun. “Still getting in trouble from when you were being bad as a teenager,” Jiyong teased. 

“There will be revenge,” Seunghyun muttered. “I know where you sleep.”

Dinner was over. Leftovers were placed in Tupperware containers, Wink helped wash the dishes with Taemin and Onew, Jiyong and Seunghyun put the dishes away, and Dongwook sat at the kitchen table to talk with them all while they were working. 

Mr Choi got up and left the kitchen without saying a word, and Seunghyun worried that the revelation of his association with gang members had made him upset, but his father walked back in carrying an old fashioned hat box that had been papered in a floral pattern. He set it carefully, reverently, on the table, and then sat down next to it. 

Taemin and Onew looked at the box happily, and explained to Seunghyun in Korean that they had found it in their attic. It had belonged to the last person who had lived in the gardener’s house, which just happened to be Seunghyun’s grandmother. They took it immediately to Mr. Choi, who promised to let everyone know what was in the box if he felt that it was appropriate.

“A few months ago,” Mr. Choi said, “that woman said that you weren’t all human.” 

Jiyong, Seunghyun, and Dongwook looked at each other before sitting down at the table with Mr. Choi and Mr. Kwon. 

“This box has many letters that your grandmother wrote to your mother, but they are all in Korean. I went through them myself over this past week. Do you want to read them by yourself, Seunghyun?” 

“Yes. I mean, I want to read them by myself, but right now I’m more interested to find out what I am…”

“It doesn’t say what you are, but it does give the name of your grandfather… I think that it is a name. I have never heard of a name like this before…”

Dongwook almost passed out, “What is it?”

“A man named Joseph Wakinyan. She claims that her lover was named Joseph Wakinyan,” Mr. Choi said. 

“Wakinyan?” Dongwook said, his forehead wrinkling, “What kind of a name is Wakinyan?” 

Jiyong was already pulling out his cell phone. He typed in the name that Mr. Choi showed him the spelling of, and then whistled. “The definition in Wikipedia is really short…”

Seunghyun looked at his lover, expectantly.

“It’s a Lakota word for Thunder…” 

“Lakota?” Dongwook asked. 

“Mmm… like, the Sioux… Native American plainspeople…” Jiyong continued reading. “The word can be translated a couple of different ways… but it seems like ‘Thunderbird’ is the most commonly accepted.”

“What is that?” Dongwook asked. He blinked a few times. “You know, it doesn’t matter. There is a really easy solution to this. One of the kids in my class at Georgia State was a Cherokee Indian, they said if you know the name of one of your relatives all you have to do is call Tribal Council to find out if they were part of that tribe.” 

Jiyong looked at Dongwook. “That’s it?” He looked at Seunghyun. “Do you want to try it? We can find out what you are.”

Seunghyun looked at his lover, his heart beating fast. “This is going kind of fast…”

Dongwook scoffed. “We’ve been dying to know for months, man! You can’t hold out on us now!”

Seunghyun felt a little lost. “But what if he isn’t my grandfather, and… I can’t be Native American…”

“What do you know about Native Americans, anyway?”

“They were hunter-gatherers?” Seunghyun asked. “I have no idea…”

Dongwook rolled his eyes. “Lame. Call the Tribal Council,” he told Jiyong, who nodded.

Jiyong pushed a few more buttons on his cell phone, “There’s a listing for some place called Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota,” he said before he pushed a few more buttons and then he held the phone up to his ear. It rang a few times, and then Jiyong smiled. “Hi, I’m looking for my friend’s grandfather. His name is Joseph Wakinyan,” he said.

He put the phone on speakerphone so that everyone could hear.

“Joseph Wakinyan’s grandkid? Really?” the voice asked. It sounded slightly nasal, and the words were pronounced slowly and precisely. “I tell you what… let me talk to your friend…”

“I’m here…” Seunghyun said. He cleared his throat and repeated himself, “I’m Joseph Wakinyan’s grandson.”

The voice on the other end was silent for a minute. “That you, Tokala?”

“No, my name is Seunghyun Choi…” 

“Hey,” they could hear the man’s voice calling out as he muffled the phone with his hand, “Is Tokala playing a trick on us again?”

“No way man, Tokala is right outside playing basketball with Comes Evil and Tatonka…” a woman’s voice answered.

“Tell him to come here, sounds like one of his cousin’s is calling…” the man got back on the phone. “You sure this ain’t Tokala?”

“I’m sure, sir,” Seunghyun said. “Can I talk with my grandfather?”

“Boy, your grandfather, if Joseph Wakinyan is your grandfather, and you sure as hell sound like his grandson, has been dead since 1973 when the FBI shot him in the back. Just think, a decorated war hero like that, shot in the back…” the man paused for just a second, “Hey chief, man on the phone claims he’s your cousin…”

“Hello?” a man picked up the phone. Everyone at the table froze, as this man had the exact same voice as Seunghyun.

“Hello?” Seunghyun asked, swallowing. “My name is Seunghyun Choi, and I think that Joseph Wakinyan was my grandfather.”

There was a pause. “What’s your address?” the man named Tokala asked.

Seunghyun gave him the address, and then they heard some typing as if on a computer. “I see where you are. Are you at home right now?” 

“Yes,” Seunghyun said. 

“Okay, hold on,” and Tokala hung up the phone. 

“What was that about?” Dongwook asked, confused. 

“That was really weird…” Jiyong started to say before the sound of thunder rent through the air. 

A knock sounded at the back door, and everyone looked at each other before Seunghyun walked over to the door and opened it slowly. 

A tall Native American man stood on the other side. He wore jeans and a tee-shirt with cowboy boots, and a Stetson hat with a large feather sticking out of it. His waist length hair hung in black silk waves to his waist, and he wore a thick beaded necklace around his throat. “Seunghyun Choi?” he asked, in the same deep voice that Seunghyun had.

“That’s me,” Seunghyun said, staring at the man who looked a little bit like him, but not really. Their voices were exactly the same, and it weirded him out a little.

“Hi,” the man said, smiling and holding out one copper hand in greeting. “I’m your cousin, Tokala Clifford.”


	2. Chapter 2

They all sat around the table, staring at Tokala in wonder and quite a bit of confusion.

“Weren’t you just in South Dakota?” Jiyong asked. “Isn’t that like… two thousand miles from here?”

Tokala smiled. “Of course it is. But we are a quarter Thunderbird, distance does not really matter, does it, cousin?”

Seunghyun swallowed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Tokala gave him a confused look. “You know that we are not all the way human, right?”

“Well, I knew that,” Seunghyun said, “I just don’t know anything about what I am.”

“You did not have a teacher then,” Tokala nodded, as if to himself. He bit the tip of his thumb lightly before continuing. “Well, I can teach you how I did that. Basically, we can bend sound and light… especially if there is a thunderstorm. We are the children of Thunder, kind of like the missionaries teach us about James and John, only without Jesus. Our grandfather was born out of the thunderspirits.”

Seunghyun was completely lost, and by the look on all of the other people sitting around the table he wasn’t the only one.

Tokala smiled, “I see that you know nothing about our people. Let me see, where do I start? In the beginning, there was nothing. You know this, right?” 

Dongwook decided that this, if nothing else, was an excuse to drink and drink heavily. He passed out shot glasses to everyone at the table, but Tokala refused. Dongwook got him water, instead. 

“The Creator, the first God, Inyan, The Great Spirit Wakan Tanka, was lonely, and so he created Thunderbird, Wakinyan, the air spirit, to keep him company. Between them, they created all the people and the Earth and the Sky, all the creatures, all of the plants and rivers. They were very happy, and very in love…” 

“Thunderbird was a woman?” Jiyong asked.

“I don’t know. Does it matter? They were spirits, maybe they were not old enough to decide if they were boys or girls. Seunghyun, your people do not really care about the sex of a person, only what role they choose to play in this life, do you understand this concept?”

“As Jiyong is my lover, I suppose that it is possible…” 

Tokala smiled at Jiyong, “You are waschincha?” 

“What?” Jiyong asked, blinking.

“The sacred man/woman, one who can talk between worlds of man and woman?” Tokala asked again.

“I guess? I’m a wizard…” Jiyong told him.

Tokala smiled widely at him. “I am glad to meet the lover of my cousin. Back to our story. Wakinyan and Wakan Tanka loved the people because they were clever and reverent, but Unchekula, the Great Horned Snake who lived in the Missouri River, hated them. They did not show him what he considered to be the proper respect. He decided to kill all of them, and he flooded the banks, and all of the lands, so that the people would die. Wakan Tanka heard the suffering of his people, and it saddened his heart. He sent his lover, Wakinyan, down to save them even though it meant that Wakinyan could never come back. Wakinyan led the people to the Black Hills, and that spirit took care of them until it died. His children still exist among the people, and occasionally he will return during a thunderstorm to keep his blood strong in the people*.”

“Wow,” Dongwook said, taking a shot of whiskey with Mr. Choi and Mr. Kwon. “That’s quite a history you got there, Seunghyun. What exactly is it that Seunghyun can do?”

“You should feel most strongly about protecting your family, or your people. It seems that you have done so, because I do not think you all are related. You will want to keep them close, and you will inspire them to great loyalty to you,” Tokala smiled again. He seemed a very happy person, Seunghyun noted. “You should be able to call other Thunderbirds to your side… or at the very least thunderspirits and thunderstorms. You can travel anywhere you want, quickly. I can show you how to do that. You should be a fierce fighter. Oh, and we have a neat trick,” Tokala said. “Watch this,” he started singing a song in Lakota, and outside thunder rumbled along with his deep voice. “Have you figured out how to do that, yet? Make the clouds sing with you?” 

Seunghyun shook his head in the negative. “I’ve never done any of those things, anything like that…” 

“I had to have it all taught to me by an older Wakinyan, one who didn’t have anywhere near as much blood in them as we do. I am so excited to meet someone else who has it; I can’t wait to see what we can do together.” 

Dongwook looked between the two men, thinking about all the things that they could do together. It gave him an erection, and he scooted his chair further up under the table and he poured himself another shot. The sound of the two men’s voices was enough to turn him on, and it had. He felt like his skin was crawling with the need to be touched. And he was just as attracted to Tokala as he had been to Seunghyun, and he didn’t know if he liked that. At least with Seunghyun, he knew that he had been gay, even though he was in love with another man. Tokala though… Tokala was a different story.

Tokala wore his sexuality like a cloak. It was a physical presence in the room, and Dongwook saw that every single man present had been affected by it. He couldn’t tell if Tokala even knew what effect his presence had or if he was even interested in any of the men there. He hadn’t even shot a second glance at Taemin, and even the straight men that had come to the house did that. Tokala seemed intent on meeting his cousin, and hadn’t looked at anyone else there at all. 

Dongwook took another shot. Maybe the man was straight, God forbid. Dongwook studied him out of lowered eyelids, taking in the long, straight nose and the high cheekbones and the full lips. He could teach that man a thing or two if he would just look his way. 

“Look, this is my phone number. I do not have a computer, so you cannot reach me by e-mail, and the phone will get you to the reservation tribal council. If you need to know anything else, you can get a hold of me that way…” 

“Why don’t you stay, son?” Mr. Kwon asked. “We have a big house with plenty of spare rooms. I know that Seunghyun would love to meet his family, and as there are a lot of things about himself that he doesn't know I am sure he would be more comfortable if he had someone to ask… unless there’s someone back there waiting for you?” 

“Oh, no, all of my family is dead. I live with some friends, but they just found out they are in love with each other and… well…” Tokala blushed, which made Dongwook want to swoon, “they could use some time alone together, I suppose. Do you mind if I use your phone to get a hold of them?” 

Mr. Kwon nodded, and they listened as Tokala spoke in Lakota on the phone. Dongwook decided that he was in love with that voice, and he took another shot. 

“Your friend is getting himself drunk,” Tokala looked over at Dongwook in concern. “Will he be okay?”

Great. Now the sexy man thought he was an alcoholic.

“Dongwook? No, he’ll be fine. If he gets drunk enough, at least he won’t be hitting on my man,” Jiyong said, making a face at Dongwook.

Even better. Now the sexy man thought he was a slut.

Tokala smiled, “He is waschincha, too?” 

“Except for our dads and our daughter who isn’t old enough to decide, I think everyone here is,” Jiyong said. “How about you?” 

“I’m Wakinyan,” Tokala said, startled. “Just like Seunghyun. We don’t fall in love with flesh so much as spirit.”

Seunghyun smiled at his lover, “Don’t worry, I’m in love with your flesh, too. Must be the Korean side of me.” 

“Blame it on whatever you want, Seunghyun, as long as its true,” Jiyong kissed the tip of his lover’s nose. 

Tokala smiled at this, too. “It is good to see this. Love is powerful medicine.”

Wink blinked up at her Papa from Jiyong’s arms, and yawned widely in his face. “I guess its time to break this up and put our little girl to bed,” Jiyong said, smoothing back her fine blond hair. 

Taemin and Onew trooped out the back door to their little cottage, Mr. Choi left for his apartment over the garage, Mr. Kwon went up the back steps to his third floor bedroom, and Jiyong led everyone else up to the second floor bedrooms. As Seunghyun had a broken arm and Jiyong had a little girl, Tokala offered to carry a completely blitzed Dongwook up the stairs.

Dongwook felt tiny in the man’s arms. Tokala had to be at least five inches taller than Dongwook’s near six foot height, but even the size difference was turning him on. He groaned, half hoping that the man didn’t notice, or even better yet, would take advantage of him in his drunken state. Unfortunately, all the man did was tuck him into his bed, turn on the half-bath light so that if he had to get up in the middle of the night he didn’t trip over anything, and then shut the door behind him as he left. It took Dongwook a few minutes to pass out.

Jiyong showed Tokala the spare bedroom that Seunghyun had occupied a few months ago when there had been a slight memory problem in the house. Tokala stripped down to his boxers to go to bed as soon as he was alone, as no one in the house was large enough to loan him clothing and he hadn’t thought to bring himself a change of clothing. 

This house was weird, Tokala decided. A complete family, no doubt, and it was full of love. Tokala almost wished that he belonged to the family along with his cousin, but he knew that he would go home eventually. It was just simply nice to be around family, someone who he could feel had the same blood in his veins. He was tempted to withhold information from Seunghyun so that he could prolong his visit, but that would be wrong. He would teach Seunghyun about himself as quickly as possible so that he wouldn’t form any attachments here, and then go back home. Maybe he could qualify for a HUD house by himself, now that the girls that he lived with decided they were in love with each other. 

He, Mary, and Nascha had all been orphaned when they were around fourteen for different reasons. The tribe had given them their own house, since they couldn’t find any foster families who were willing to take in a Wakinyan and two girls who might be waschincha, and they weren’t about to let the white families that surrounded them to have access to such sacred beings. The three of them had grown up together, went to school and ate and slept and smoked pot and ate peyote and had sex together. But Mary and Nascha had recently become monogamous with each other, and Tokala felt more and more out of place in the home. Six years being in their family hadn’t been long enough to establish ties once the girls had changed their relationship. 

Jiyong tucked his daughter in her crib, marveling again at her long eyelashes and baby fat cheeks. She laid still and silent in her crib, so different from when she was terrorizing everyone awake. Jiyong smiled down at her before he walked across the hall to his lover.

Seunghyun sat on their bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. 

“How are you feeling about this? It happened kind of suddenly,” Jiyong asked as he changed into his pajamas.

“I have a cousin,” Seunghyun shrugged. “It’s such a weird feeling. We really don’t look alike, but we sound exactly the same.” 

Jiyong studied Seunghyun. “All of our cousins live in Korea, so of course this is weird for us.”

Seunghyun looked up at Jiyong. “I’m not all Korean, that’s weird. I feel more… tied to America now. I don’t know anything about Native Americans besides they wear feathers and white people like to kill them.”

Jiyong nodded his head. “I don’t know anything about them, either. Our teachers in high school only mentioned them in passing.”

“There is a part of me I know nothing about, Jiyong. That is so frightening. The things he was saying… do you think that I can do all of those?”

“His hair is really long. What kind of conditioner do you think he uses?” Jiyong asked.

“What?” Seunghyun asked, surprised.

“His clothing looked old and worn, too. His shoes looked like they had been repaired a lot. Do you think he is very poor?” Jiyong paused. “I have to take him shopping tomorrow. I’ll say that it’ll be his payment as your teacher since it is obvious he has a lot of pride and probably won’t take charity. Or I’ll make it a family event. I think that Dongwook likes him.”

“What? Dongwook and my cousin?” 

“They would be a good match, I bet. Tokala seems very steady, and Dongwook needs that. Also, he’s really cute.”

“Are you checking out my cousin, Jiyong?” 

Jiyong smiled over at Seunghyun, “Would you be jealous if I was?”

“Yes,” Seunghyun said without taking a breath. “I like it when you only want me.”

“Well…” Jiyong’s attention was centered on Seunghyun then, “you’d better convince me that you’re the one that I want, hadn’t you?” 

Seunghyun smiled happily before he pressed butterfly kisses on Jiyong’s face, pressing his lover back onto the bed. “I can’t wait to get my cast off,” Seunghyun said. “I’m gonna hold you down and fuck you so hard as soon as I have both of my hands.”

A terrible spark lit Jiyong’s eyes when Seunghyun said this. “I have a better idea,” he whispered, a little short of breath. He took off Seunghyun’s tie and gestured for the taller man to lean back against the headboard. “When I saw you tied down before, it made me crazy for you,” Jiyong confessed as he kissed Seunghyun’s lips before he tied the man to the bed. 

Seunghyun smiled. “This sounds like sexy fun times.” 

“Oh, I think that you’ll find out that it will be,” Jiyong said as he unbuttoned and unzipped his lover’s clothing, leaving most of it on him. He licked and nibbled his way down Seunghyun’s body, and then pulled the man’s dick into his mouth, sucking and licking the man in to a squirming mess of need. Jiyong inserted two well lubricated fingertips into Seunghyun’s tight hole, rubbing around the edges and scissoring his fingers to make it bigger. Seunghyun’s eyes got big as he looked down at his lover, who simply smiled up at him with an almost angelic radiance. 

It didn’t matter that they had never done this before, much less ever talked about it. Seunghyun wanted it fiercely, wanted Jiyong inside of him, completing him. 

Jiyong nudged his entrance, and then slowly pushed into the hole that wasn’t big enough for him. He slowly pushed, waiting for the muscle to relax around him, sweating as inch by inch Seunghyun’s muscles relaxed, letting him have access. Jiyong leaned up to kiss his lover, and finally Seunghyun relaxed enough to let Jiyong slide up to the hilt, where he lay seated inside his lover’s tight embrace. He had to catch his breath, fight orgasm for a good minute before he trusted himself to slide out and slowly press his way back in again. 

Seunghyun couldn’t stop himself, he moaned as loudly as Jiyong did when he was inside of him. His penis lay erect against Jiyong’s new abdominal muscles, the faint trail of hair from Jiyong’s belly button down to his thatch abrading his cock with their silken texture as Jiyong’s penis glided in and out of him. It was surprisingly different than fucking, Seunghyun thought, better in certain ways. Darker emotions, definitely, but soon, he couldn’t think enough to analyze what was going on anymore.

Jiyong kept pulling out and pushing into him, and soon Seunghyun was pushing up on his heels, arching his back to encourage him. Jiyong was moaning too, a low, throaty sound that Seunghyun swallowed with his kisses. He struggled against the tie that held his hands to the board, needing to touch and caress the man surging above him, to touch the sweat on his upper lip and forehead, to run his fingers through his hair, to run lines down his spine. 

It didn’t take too much longer for Seunghyun to realize that he loved getting fucked. When he came, it was harder than he was prepared for, and it was different than any other time he had gotten off. He felt Jiyong come inside of him, and it was almost magical. 

The boys lay on the bed, kissing each other, held together by sweat and saliva and semen. Jiyong untied the knots and luxuriated in Seunghyun’s half embrace, with the cast on his arm held away from them so that it wouldn’t scratch Jiyong’s skin.

“I love you, baby,” Seunghyun whispered. “I love you so much it hurts.”

“I love you, too,” Jiyong panted. “Forever and always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is a mostly true legend… I changed very few details.   
> ** Forgive my Lakota spelling, I haven’t taken language classes for years and I’m horrible at spelling anyway. I did my best to spell the word phonetically, so don’t use this work as source material if you have to do a Lakota presentation because you will get docked on your grade. Also, I am changing some of the culture of the Lakota to make it work with the story. This is by no means a scholarly article on Lakota culture.


	3. Chapter 3

Tokala was pleased with himself the next day, he had seen the city of Memphis, visited Graceland, driven by a huge pyramid made out of glass, taken a tour of Sun Studios, watched the ducks walk into the indoor fountain at the Peabody Hotel, and then on top of that, Jiyong had taken him shopping. Jiyong claimed that since he was here to train Seunghyun, he needed to have more clothing and because Jiyong was so particular about what the people around him were wearing, he had to pick it out and therefore buy it. All he wanted in return was that Tokala teach Seunghyun about himself and his magic.

It was fair, Tokala supposed, although he kind of doubted that he had to have all the brand new name brands that Jiyong insisted on buying him. There had been second hand stores that Jiyong had completely skipped, and Tokala knew that they carried the same clothing as the stores in the mall.

As he was wearing a nice pair of Nikes, brand new dark blue jeans that made his legs look like they went on for miles with two other pairs that were almost the same in the bag that he was holding, five shirts that showed of his muscular chest, and a couple pairs of some sort of weird underwear called boxer briefs, and matching accessories for all of his outfits… he wondered if Jiyong were in fact, a woman inside of his skin. He had never been able to dress himself this well. 

He carried his new clothing up to his room and then came downstairs where Jiyong’s dad was sitting with a white man in the living room. He paused outside the double doors when he heard one word that made his skin crawl, and eavesdropped even though he knew it was rude.

“You’re pretty sure that vampires run around this city?” the white man was asking Mr. Kwon. “You know that if you bring that into the court room, they are gonna laugh us out of there.” 

“The important thing, Mr. Jenkins, isn’t that there are vampires. We need to either prove that you couldn’t have done it or give irrefutable evidence that someone else did. That is what you are paying me for. Now, since you won’t tell me where you went…”

“If I tell you where I was my career is over in this town, so you’re just gonna have to work around it,” the man said, crossing his legs in his expensive trousers.

Tokala went back to the kitchen to wait for Mr. Kwon there to talk to him. Vampires was always something that he could help out with. 

He ran into Dongwook, who was cooking something that smelled great. “Wow, what is that smell?” 

Dongwook watched the man’s legs moving, eating up the distance between them. “T-t-tomato and honey chicken with sesame seeds…” Dongwook cursed himself for stuttering.

Seunghyun was sitting at the kitchen table, his eyes narrowing as he watched the interaction between his cousin and his best friend. 

“It smells great,” Tokala repeated himself, leaning over the food a little more to take a deeper smell. He left the cooking area without even looking Dongwook full in the eye, and went over and sat down with Seunghyun. Dongwook wanted to cry.

“Your lover is a shopping menace,” Tokala said, “I do not think I have ever spent that much money…”

“Jiyong does seem to have a singular talent for shopping,” Seunghyun studied his cousin. He looked a lot better than yesterday, admittedly. “Tell me about yourself,” Seunghyun said. “Are you in college?” 

Tokala laughed at that a little, “I did not even graduate high school,” Tokala looked at his shoes. “I could not figure out a reason to do it.”

Dongwook, Ph. D. in Philosophy, bibliophile and nerd extraordinaire, looked at the larger man, surprised. “You didn’t graduate high school?”

“What am I going to do with an education?” Tokala asked bitterly. “I am Oglala. Who would hire me? I’m not exceptionally intelligent, so I will not be able to teach at a University. I cannot figure legalities out, so I cannot be a tribal lawyer. I already served on Tribal council by the time I was thirteen, I will probably do my duty to the tribe again at some point… but you do not need a diploma to do that. I do odd jobs to keep the bills paid, and then I hang around with my friends who are just as uneducated as I am.” 

“What are your plans for your life, then?” 

“I am nineteen years old,” Tokala smiled. “I guess I am going do my odd jobs until someone on the reservation hires me, if a job ever comes up.”

“You could live off the reservation…” Seunghyun said.

“Where? Why would I? Better be with my people, who understand who and what I am. Sometimes, we Wakinyan can get a little… unstable if we go long enough without finding something or someone to hold us to the Earth.”

“You have any family waiting for you at all?” Seunghyun. “Or a sweetheart?”

“You are my family, Seunghyun. You are the only one left,” Tokala smiled at him. “I have two roommates that I have lived with since we were fourteen. Good girls, we have been like a family for five years now. My people hope that they will be enough to hold me to the Earth when my time comes.”

“What do you mean, when your time comes? We go crazy?”

Tokala nodded. “Keep it in mind, cousin. We inspire loyalty because without human relationships, we can become a danger. We long to return to the sky, if we have nothing to hold us down we forget that other people can be hurt by the sky, by the thunder and the lightening. You have done well for yourself here, you should treasure your friends and your family. They will keep you safe.”

The conversation ended when the rest of Seunghyun’s family entered the kitchen. The men and Wink started eating the chicken, asparagus, rice, and dirty potatoes that Dongwook had made. Tokala made sure that he complimented the chef, who blushed under his praise. Jiyong and Seunghyun shared secret smiles with each other. The meal was halfway over when Tokala cleared his throat nervously. 

“I heard you were having vampire problems, Mr. Kwon,” he said.

Mr. Kwon looked up, “Yes, I am, Tokala.”

“I think that it would be good for Seunghyun and me to take care of those problems for you. Thunderbirds are very good at dealing with vampires, and it is always easiest to train a new thunderbird if we have target practice,” Tokala said, keeping the man’s eyes with his own. 

“I’d just need to know if they know anything about the incident with my client,” Mr. Kwon said.

“Seunghyun and I can go after the meal tonight,” Tokala said.

“I want to come, too,” Dongwook said.

Tokala still didn’t look at him, as he had been doing all night. It made Dongwook want to grab the man’s chin and turn his head to look at him.

“I want to, also,” Jiyong said. “I want to see what you two can do. Maybe I can learn something from it.”

“I just think that someone there should have a gun permit on the off chance that y’all need some shooting done,” Dongwook said with a smile. 

Tokala smiled a little into his dinner plate. “Fine,” he said, trying not to be pleased with the turn of events. “It will work out better if Seunghyun has people he feels the need to protect.”

“I don’t like it,” Seunghyun said. “I don’t want to put Jiyong or Dongwook in danger. Remember the last time we accidently got stuck in a vampire club, Jiyong?”

“No, it will be fine. I know what I am doing, I can protect your lover and your best friend if you make a mistake,” Tokala said. “I have to protect my cousin, you know.”

“So it comes down to loyalty?” Seunghyun asked.

“Much of it for me, yes. Your body will follow mine, if the danger becomes too great. You should see the first time I encountered werewolves and all I had were my girls,” Tokala said. 

“Were those girls your lovers?” Seunghyun smiled in mischief.

He wasn’t prepared for the look of sadness that crossed his cousin’s face. “They were at one time. We grew up though, and they want to only be with each other. They were jealous of each other when one of them was with me.”

“So you really have nothing to return to,” Seunghyun observed, and then wanted to kick himself for being so callous.

“I have my people. I have friends who would miss me if I were gone,” Tokala said. He was no longer hungry, and pushed his rice around. “Tatanka and Comes Evil would miss having their basketball partner.”

No one else said anything, but Dongwook wanted to hold this man close to his chest. He hated himself for feeling more than simple lust for this man. Simple lust would burn itself out, but anything more… he still loved Seunghyun, what if he fell in love with Seunghyun’s cousin at the same time? That would just be double the pain knowing that neither of them could ever be his.

The boys piled into Seunghyun’s charger after making sure that Wink was safe with her grandfathers. 

“So, I have met a couple of wizards,” Tokala said to Jiyong from the front seat, “How good are you?” 

“I only found out I was a wizard a couple of months ago,” Jiyong said. “We had to fight Wink’s biological father, who happened to have been a wizard, too. I can do a few basic spells: fireballs, protection, snow…” 

Tokala nodded his head. “Basic, but they are very powerful. Most wizards cannot get past the equivalent of a zippo lighter. You can pull off a fireball after only a few months? Very impressive. It might come in handy tonight. What do you do, Dongwook?”

Dongwook looked up suddenly. “What? I can… I can shoot a gun.” 

Tokala nodded. “What else?” 

“I um…” Dongwook felt like a fool. What was he doing in this car with these people who weren’t all human?

“Dongwook is very intelligent,” Seunghyun said. “He’s my brains.” 

“A thinker?” Tokala asked.

“He’s actually Dr. Dongwook Choi,” Seunghyun said, looking at Dongwook as if he could get him to talk about himself.

“He is a doctor?” Tokala asked, surprised. 

“Of Philosophy,” Dongwook muttered. 

“You have a doctorate in Philosophy?” Tokala asked, a little dismayed. He didn’t know what to do with that information. 

Dongwook had never felt so old or so stupid. This kid had just explained to them how he didn’t even value a high school diploma, now Dongwook had to reveal that not only did he think that education was important, he had gone all the way with something that couldn’t even get him a job. 

“What do you do with a doctorate in Philosophy?” Tokala asked. 

“Well… I just got a job at Rhodes College to teach a few courses there starting second spring semester…” Dongwook said, staring out the window.

“Huh,” Tokala said. He stared out the window, too. 

Seunghyun met Jiyong’s eyes in the rearview mirror, wishing somehow that they could salvage the situation. Jiyong shrugged his shoulders, not knowing how they were going to handle this to make it better. 

Seunghyun pulled up in front of Café Apocalypse. There were a few black clad teenagers sitting outside, but it was mostly filled with college students from the University of Memphis across the train tracks. As the four men made their way to the back room, not too many of them noticed their passing as their noses were all buried in their laptops and thick text books. Most of them sipped at mugs of coffee, and almost all of them were smoking. Some sat around in couches, having pseudo-intellectual conversations or talking about games or movies… but not many of them. 

“I bet you like this,” Tokala smiled at Dongwook, who blushed in mortification. Tokala’s smile faltered a little at seeing that expression. He figured he said something wrong, but he had no idea what it could be.

Seunghyun took them to the very back of the café, where draped across the couches were creatures that were unmistakably vampires. 

They didn’t sparkle. They were pale, some of them were tinged blue. Some were beautiful, but some were old, past the prime of their existence. They all moved like vampires, though, and that part gave Tokala the shivers.

They moved like they were trying to remember to be human, like they were puppets and their puppeteer had heard stories of what humans were supposed to be like but hadn’t quite gotten it right because he had never seen a human. Some of them flowed too fluidly, but most of them moved with harsh jerks and precisely timed movements. You could almost see them telling themselves, ‘remember to blink,’ ‘remember to play with your hair occasionally,’ ‘remember to sip at mug of coffee.’ 

Tokala hated watching vampires more than anything. 

One of them stood up at the appearance of the four men. He was ugly, and the way he moved was the most abnormal out of all of the vampires. It was like watching a bad video, where necessary seconds were cut out of the film strip. He stood, then he was half way to them, and then he was hissing in Tokala’s face, without seeming to have taken a step.

“I need to talk to whomever is in charge of you guys,” Tokala said calmly. 

The vampire hissed.

“Ah-ah-ah,” Tokala said, disapproving of the action. He held up his left hand and let electricity play at his fingertips a little. 

Seunghyun saw it and instantly knew how to do it, too. He lifted up his right hand, and tried not to be shocked that he could call electricity to it. Jiyong quickly produced a fireball in one of his hands, and Dongwook pulled his gun. Jiyong and Dongwook smelled ozone as the electricity parted the air molecules. It kind of stank.

The vampire paused. “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Tokala Clifford of the Hunkapathila band of the Oglala Lakota, Wakinyan and Medicine Man. This is my cousin, Seunghyun Choi, Wakinyan and lover of Jiyong Kwon, wizard. On my right you will find Dongwook Choi. We call him… The Professor. That is all you need to know,” Tokala said in his deep voice.

The vampires flinched as each of the boys were introduced, but especially looked fearfully at Dongwook. They did not know what he was, but if he was hanging out with these three men…

Two of the vampires walked out the back door, in their creepy, not really walking kind of way. The vampire in Tokala’s face motioned for them to follow, and they did. 

The weather was trying to be spring, so it was warm enough for them all to be walking around in thin long sleeved shirts, but it was misting, so the air was wet and their shirts clung to their bodies. Dongwook saw Tokala take a glance at his chest out of the side of his eye, and suddenly he felt like rejoicing. It could mean nothing, but the possibility that it might mean something was driving Dongwook nuts, and he knew that he had a nice body. 

The parking lot behind the Café ended at a large white building and a chain link fence. The vampires walked through the building, motioning for the boys to follow them. The hallway they were in was narrow on both sides, and suddenly they were surrounded by vampires on both sides.

Tokala grabbed Dongwook and shielded his body with his own, pressing Dongwook up against the wall and then standing with his back to the man, both hands pushing electricity back and forth between them. Seunghyun did the same with Jiyong, and he knew exactly the same way as he had before how to do what Tokala was doing. 

“They really are Wakinyan,” a voice said from the darkness. “I haven’t seen one since 1890,” the voice continued talking, “when I watched the United States military shoot down a little over one hundred women and children at a place called Wounded Knee. I laughed as it happened; they were all screaming and crying…” 

Tokala controlled his temper. “I am not impressed, Old One. Show yourself or I will kill every single vampire in here.” 

“Self-control,” the woman appeared, dressed in a slinky red gown. She had shaven her head and she wore dark eye shadow, the attempt to appear human seemingly lost on her. “The last Wakinyan did not have it. All I had to do was mention the disrespect committed to Sitting Bull…”

“We need information on if one of your people drained three humans two months ago at Club 51 on Highway 51 near Millington,” Tokala said.

The woman paused, her tongue swiping over her fangs. 

Tokala could feel Dongwook trembling against his back. He dropped the electricity for only a split second so that he could take Dongwook’s arms and wrap them around his waist. He was a little confused by Dongwook’s moan at that, but he felt that Dongwook felt safer and so picked the electricity back up in his hands. He felt something nudging him in the small of his back and almost wanted to turn around, but he shrugged it off, thinking that maybe Dongwook reacted that way when he was scared. Some men did, or so he thought that he heard them talking about it.

“I think that it might be possible one of my men did,” the woman said. 

“Possible, or did it happen for sure?” Tokala pressed.

The woman closed her eyes, and a few of the vampires near her clutched their heads as if in pain. “It happened. Would you like to know which one of them did it?” 

“Not necessarily,” Tokala answered. “All I needed was confirmation that it happened. There are too many of you in one city, though. How could you let this happen?” Tokala looked in disdain as twenty vampires hissed at him.

“Oh, not really… although this new mayor is quite the pain in the ass. I will cull my herd when the time is right, I don’t need y’all to do it for me,” the woman said, pulling on long red gloves she had picked up from the table next to her.

Tokala nodded. “We are done here for tonight.”

The woman nodded. “Good-bye, then.”


	4. Chapter 4

Seunghyun saw that Dongwook’s arms were wrapped around Tokala’s waist, and so he dropped his electricity long enough to pull Jiyong’s arms around him. Tokala started walking out of the building, but that woman who was clearly not human made a little sound.

“You didn’t think that I was going to give you that information from the kindness of my heart, now did you?” the woman laughed a little bit. 

Tokala paused, reassuring himself that Dongwook’s arms were still around his waist. “I had hoped that you weren’t lying about the last time you had dealt with a Wakinyan. My cousin and I have pretty pure blood, so I informed you of what we were before we started.” 

“My children are hungry. Surely you wouldn’t begrudge them a little bit of… sustenance.” Her S’s were drawn out like a snake’s, and it ran along the boy’s spines like slime. 

“If they come near us, they will die,” Tokala said. “You haven’t dealt with our people for almost one hundred twenty years, but think of how many of your kind we have dealt with since…” 

His words were interrupted by vampires flying at him, and Tokala poured electricity into them. They screamed for only a few minutes before there was a pop and they disappeared. Seunghyun quickly caught on to what Tokala was doing, and he joined him. 

“Watch me, cousin,” Tokala yelled over the sounds of vampires screaming in misery before their existence was wiped out. Watching was pretty easy, as there was raw electricity running amok all over the room and things were pretty well lit. Tokala turned in Dongwook’s arms, he held the man to his chest, and then there was a crow flying away from the spot where they had been. 

It made sense to Seunghyun, and he did the same thing, following the other crow out of the building. They landed on the car that Seunghyun had parked on one of the sidestreets. 

Jiyong and Dongwook were fine, but they were a little shocked that the men in their arms were completely naked. 

“I like this part,” Jiyong said, eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Oh my God,” Dongwook said. 

Tokala eased out of his arms, and then grabbed the clothing that had landed on the ground. He pulled his pants on first before he grinned over at his cousin. “Sorry, I have not figured out how to keep my clothing on after transformation. The guy I learned from knew how to do it, so it is possible, but I just never picked up that knack.” 

“Don’t bother, hyung,” Jiyong looked up into naked Seunghyun’s eyes, and pulled the man’s head down for a kiss. Seunghyun responded, but he pulled Jiyong closer to him so that the others wouldn’t see his erection.

“Are they always like this?” Tokala said, turning his back on them and directing his question to Dongwook.

“Only when I am very lucky,” Dongwook looked around Tokala to watch.

“Do they remember that we are here?” Tokala asked, still confused but watching Dongwook.

“Jiyong probably does, but I don’t know if Seunghyun is aware of anything outside of Jiyong. Ever. The man walks into a room, and Seunghyun will forget whatever he is talking about and stares at him.”

“I’m afraid to get my shirt. It’s behind me,” Tokala said, the mist coating his copper skin and making him shine.

“Oh, don’t get all modest on my account,” Dongwook said, leaning back on the car and smiling. “You don’t need to worry about me getting offended.”

Tokala nodded, but he did lean down and scoop up his necklace. He tied the beads around his neck, giving Jiyong and Seunghyun some privacy. He almost turned around when he heard Jiyong moaning, curious as to what his cousin could be doing that would make the man make those sounds. They were kind of turning him on.

Dongwook was staring unabashedly. “You ever kissed a man, Tokala?” 

“What?” Tokala asked, surprised. He was trying really hard to not think about kissing a man at that point. “No, I have only ever kissed two people in my entire life.”

“You ever thought about kissing a man?” Dongwook asked, tearing his eyes away from Jiyong and Seunghyun and focusing on Tokala.

Jiyong was begging for more behind them, and Tokala swallowed. How powerful would it feel to be able to arouse another man? “Tonight I have,” Tokala answered. 

“You want to try it?” Dongwook asked, sitting up on the car. 

“With you?” Tokala asked, his palms sweating. He hoped that the other man wasn’t playing a joke or making fun of him. His eyes zeroed in on the man’s lips, which were very kissable as far as lips went, Tokala decided.

“I won’t bite, sweetie. You can consider this just… a little experiment,” Dongwook said, not moving from the hood of Seunghyun’s car. 

Tokala swallowed again, his mouth suddenly full of spit. 

“Here, just come closer to me, and I’ll kiss you. If you don’t like it, you can step away,” Dongwook persuaded. 

Tokala stepped closer to Dongwook, and he lowered his head slowly so that his lips hovered millimeters above the older man’s. Dongwook smelled very nice, Tokala decided, and he was kind enough to wait for him to breach those last few increments of space before he chastely touched his lips to the other man’s. Tokala couldn’t decide if he liked it or not, and he held his lips on Dongwook’s for a period of time. He felt Dongwook smiling under his mouth, and then something changed.

Dongwook’s lips moved, kissing him. Those full lips pressed against his own, and it felt like his lips grew new nerve endings suddenly. He gasped, and Dongwook took that as an invitation to slip his tongue into Tokala’s mouth.

Tokala went hard at the touch of Dongwook’s tongue, with the sounds of Jiyong and Seunghyun panting in the background. He brought his hand up to hold Dongwook’s head to his own on the off chance that Dongwook might pull away, and his other hand wrapped around Dongwook’s waist. 

Dongwook ran his hands up and down the Indian’s skin on his back, marveling in the smoothness he found as Tokala kissed him back. Dongwook knew that Tokala was almost at the point of not thinking, and he kissed the man with every bit of skill that he possessed so that he could push him over into pure sensation. 

“Dongwook, that’s my cousin!” Seunghyun interrupted. 

“Fucking cow,” Dongwook muttered against Tokala’s lips. 

“What?” Tokala opened his eyes, startled by his awareness spreading to include areas that didn’t consist of his own body. He pulled away, embarrassed that he had practically mauled his cousin’s best friend, who was only trying to be nice and let him try something new. 

“Interrupting fucking cow,” Dongwook glared at Seunghyun. 

Seunghyun took a few minutes to realize that Dongwook was not molesting his cousin, although he figured some seduction went into it. Transforming into a bird had made him lose his mind a little.

“You were just over there playing with your man’s stick, and I was trying to not get too bored while we waited for you two to finish bonding…” Dongwook said, trying to not jump over the car and kill his best friend.

Seunghyun was pulling his jeans on, and Tokala took the opportunity to find his shirt and his shoes, much to Dongwook’s chagrin. The four men piled into the car, Jiyong laughing in the backseat as Seunghyun pulled away. Dongwook was upset, and Tokala was embarrassed. 

“Dongwook, I invite you into my home, let you sleep and live there…” Seunghyun started to say.

“I cook your food, bitch, don’t even act like I don’t pay my own way,” Dongwook snarled back.

Jiyong cackled insanely, trying to remember how to breathe.

“Look, I am very sorry cousin,” Tokala tried to apologize.

“This is completely not your fault, Tokala, you’re only nineteen…” 

“You were fucking Jiyong when he was nineteen,” Dongwook protested.

“Jiyong knew what the score was,” Seunghyun fought back, “and you’re old…”

“Twenty-four is not old,” Dongwook protested again.

“I kissed him, cousin, he did not do anything wrong. He said he was just going to let me try kissing a man,” Tokala said.

“I’m sure that he seduced you into thinking that,” Seunghyun said, glaring at Dongwook in the rearview mirror. 

Jiyong gasped for breath, laughing. He patted Dongwook on the knee, and then started laughing again.

“Tokala, Dongwook isn’t a charitable type of guy. If he said he was just trying to let you see what it was like to kiss a man, he wanted you to kiss him. He was trying to get into your pants…” 

“You don’t know what I was feeling, Seunghyun,” Dongwook argued. “Don’t think you know what was going on in my brain…” 

“What, then?” Seunghyun was mad, biting his words off. “What was going on in your brain?”

“Actually,” Dongwook stopped yelling, “Not a whole hell of a lot. Have you seen how sexy your cousin is? I couldn’t think a whole lot while he was kissing me,” Dongwook got quiet, and then looked out the window.

Tokala’s face turned red, and he kind of wanted to melt into the seat, or turn into a bird and disappear.

Jiyong was still laughing. 

“Jiyong, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Seunghyun said, trying to keep the argument going. He still felt the need to protect his cousin, and he was a little upset about how Jiyong was reacting.

“No, I’m not going to take your side when you’re wrong, Hyunnie. Dongwook and Tokala are really good together, I think that they would make a great couple,” Jiyong said, calming down enough to talk. “Besides, did you see how they were kissing? Like there was nothing else on the planet. You can’t buy chemistry like that…” 

Tokala wanted to die of embarrassment. He slouched down in the front seat as far as the seatbelt would allow.

“It kind of turned me on, Hyunnie,” Jiyong said, leaning up to kiss Seunghyun’s neck. 

“I’m driving, Ji,” Seunghyun said in a little higher pitched voice, squirming at the feel of Jiyong’s mouth on his neck. 

“Mmm,” Jiyong said, kissing Seunghyun’s earlobe, “that makes you a captive audience.”

Tokala couldn’t tear his eyes away from his cousin now, and he felt like a huge pervert for it. He knew his eyes were big and round, but he couldn’t stop staring at the man kissing his cousin’s neck. It was like someone had gone inside his brain and turned on a hormone switch, demanding he spend all of his attention on the way Jiyong’s mouth ghosted down Seunghyun’s neck, the way his lips clung and pressed into the sensitive skin there, the goose flesh that rose up. He gasped for breath when he saw the pink tip of Jiyong’s tongue lick right under the patch of skin on Seunghyun’s ear. Tokala’s hand went up to touch that patch of skin on his own neck, wondering what it would feel like if Dongwook did the same thing to him.

Jiyong climbed over the bench seat in the front, sitting between Tokala and Seunghyun. Tokala didn’t know what to do as he heard a zipper being undone, he didn’t know if he should climb over the seat behind him, if Dongwook would get mad, but when Jiyong’s head bent down over Seunghyun’s lap he shoved himself over the back of the seat. 

Dongwook stared at him with big eyes, and then smiled at the way Tokala’s larger frame took up over half of the backseat. “You almost don’t fit back here,” Dongwook smiled.

“I don’t exactly fit up there right now,” Tokala apologized. 

Dongwook smiled, but he didn’t say anything else. He leaned across the man and kissed him again.

Tokala lost his damn mind, that was the only explanation he could come up with to justify his next actions later. He let Dongwook tear his old tee-shirt off, and he kissed the man again, feeding from the older man’s mouth as the smaller man crawled up his body and lay on top of him. He threaded his fingers through the silk of his black hair, so like his only so much finer. His skin’s texture was finer than his own, silk to his satin, and the passing street lights illuminated how much paler Dongwook was, Tokala marveled at the difference in the skin color on his hand against Dongwook’s cheek. 

Tokala loved that he was so different, but that they had the same full lips, the same high cheekbones. It turned him on as he kissed Dongwook, their sameness and their differences. Sensation swirled around them, and Tokala gasped as Dongwook ground his hips into his own. He could feel Dongwook’s erection rubbing against his own, and it was the most amazing thing that he had ever felt, better than the hollow between a girl’s legs although that felt good… this was just better. 

Tokala smoothed his hands down Dongwook’s back, eliciting a moan from the other man’s lips that Tokala sipped eagerly. 

Dongwook’s hands touched everywhere on the younger man, who had turned out to be much better at passion games than he had planned on. 

Seunghyun groaned in the from seat, and a wet rhythm was set that Dongwook’s hips matched in the back seat, and Tokala struggled to breathe against the assault on his senses.

Dongwook needed to know how he tasted, but he was afraid of going to fast for the younger man. He kissed down his shoulders, laved his brown nipples, and licked drunken paths down the bigger man’s chest and stomach. He tasted so good, Dongwook tried to convince himself that he would be satisfied with this if Tokala pushed him away now. He was willing to wait for this man, so that he could keep this taste with him at all times, but then he reached Tokala’s zipper and could not resist the temptation. 

Tokala gasped when Dongwook pulled him out, huge and erect. He was much bigger than what Dongwook was used to, and Dongwook’s eyes got big as he whispered, “Fuck!” and then he licked and suckled and nipped, trying to cram all of Tokala into his mouth, sliding his lips up and down that huge shaft. There was no way to fit it all in his mouth, so he used his hands to help cover most of it. 

Tokala couldn’t think at that point, Dongwook was doing things he had only heard about, and the image of that man’s lips wrapped around his cock was enough to set him off alone. The smells of arousal in the car, the sounds from the front seat mirroring the sounds he was making in the back, Dongwook looking up at him as his tongue danced around his shaft, all of it combined was enough to set Tokala off. And he came in deep spasms, which Dongwook drank eagerly. 

Tokala caught his breath, and he looked down at Dongwook, staring in happy but slightly aroused contentment. There was a small trace of white liquid on his upper lip, and Tokala’s left thumb brushed it away before he tenderly kissed the older man, thanking him and complimenting him without words. Dongwook ran his fingers through Tokala’s long hair, loving the feel of those strands that never seemed to end. He wrapped some of them around his wrist, hoping to be connected to this sexy man for a time. 

Their arrival at the Kwon Mansion spurred a great activity to finding misplaced clothing, some jewelry, and straightening hair before the four of them walked inside of the house. Of course, Tokala’s shirt was dead on arrival, and there was no salvaging that. 

It was all rather worthless though, as everyone in the main house was asleep. The boys grabbed some snacks and then Seunghyun ushered Jiyong into his room and Dongwook went to his own room. He turned around, “Do you want to come in? We should at least talk about tonight.”

Tokala nodded. “I should… get a shirt first…” 

“No, believe me, you are fine as you are. Just… come in and we can talk.”

Tokala went into Dongwook’s room. It was decorated in greens and whites, and it was actually soothing. Dongwook gestured to one of the overstuffed chairs that were paired next to the window, and Dongwook sat in the other one. He poured some coke into some glasses that he had taken from downstairs. He moved to pour some whiskey into Tokala’s, but Tokala put his hand over the cup. 

“First thing you should know about Indians,” Tokala said, not meeting Dongwook’s eyes. “We are all born alcoholics. We don’t have the gene that tells us when its time to stop, so those of us who walk the Red Road never take a drink. It is part of our religion.” 

Dongwook stared at him. “This is good to know,” he said, and he didn’t pour himself any, either.

“I’m not offended if you want to drink. It’s just… more typical for us to smoke pot or eat peyote…”

Dongwook poured a small amount of whiskey into his drink. “I think we should talk about what happened tonight in the car.” 

Tokala blushed. “Alright.” 

“I guess you know that I want you.”

“I guess you know I’m not going to tell you no,” Tokala said.

“I’d like to try at a relationship with you. I know you’re young…”

“Am I smart enough for you? For this to work between us, am I smart enough?” Tokala addressed the elephant in the room.

Dongwook looked surprised. “Seriously? You know all about things that I could spend years researching and still not know as much as you? Do you know how much I love folklore? How much I could listen to you talk about werewolves and Wakinyan, and you know how to handle and fight vampires… you ask me if you’re smart enough when you know so much about these things that interest me? You’re going to turn my lust for your body into a brain thing when it is so clearly me wanting to get into your pants as many times as I can in any way possible? You are the walking embodiment of sex to me: your brain, your body… there… I’m scared that you think I’m too much of a nerd for you.”

Tokala simply smiled at Dongwook as he sipped his coke. “I like this answer.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tokala had set up the sweat tent in the middle of the woods on Kwon property. It had taken him a few days, but he had dragged enough wood and brought back enough buffalo hide to make a big enough lodge for the four of them. 

The boys were all amazed to find the things that Tokala knew how to make with his hands. He made jewelry for Wink and Jiyong out of beads and feathers, wove bracelets for Dongwook, and wove a few sacred necklaces for Seunghyun out of leather and beads. The fact that he had made a lodge in three days, all the while fixing all of the furniture in the house and then spending happy fun time with Dongwook at night, was not lost on them. Tokala was talented with his hands, and Dongwook insisted that he was talented in more ways than one. Not that Seunghyun wanted to know that about his cousin, but it was Dongwook and sometimes things just got shared. 

The four sat around in a circle Indian style with a fire in the middle of them, the smoke floating up through a hole in the hide. Tokala had placed a pot and was cooking something that looked green and slimy and kind of smelled green, too. 

“What are we doing, cousin?” Seunghyun asked, playing with Jiyong’s hand in his lap. 

“Training,” Tokala said, sniffing the slimy green stew mixture.

“With slime?” Dongwook asked. 

“Mmm…” Tokala answered, kissing his new lover’s forehead. “This is a special stew. We are going to eat this. Then you will probably throw it back up. Then the stew will teach you for about the next eight to ten hours about what you need to know.” 

“What?” Seunghyun asked. 

“This is peyote, cousin. It is sacred,” Tokala said. 

“Peyote… like… mescaline?” Dongwook asked, his eyes large and interested.

“Yes. Our ancestors usually insisted we do this by age twelve, but I think they’ll give Seunghyun a break because he didn’t know he was on of the People.” 

Seunghyun was nervous. “I have work…” 

“I have called your boss Mr. Yang and explained to him that you must perform a religious ceremony honoring our ancestors. He said that Koreans do the same thing occasionally, and that he wanted you to concentrate on this alone,” Tokala answered. 

“Jiyong has finals…” Seunghyun continued his protestations.

“I turned them in early, lover. Tokala said you would need me here with you,” Jiyong smiled up into Seunghyun’s eyes. 

Seunghyun was running out of excuses. “Dongwook is a pervert!” It was lame, but he thought that it might work until it came out of his mouth. 

“Yes, but he is my pervert now. Are you too nervous? The ceremony will not work if you are nervous,” Tokala said, looking concerned at his newfound cousin. 

Seunghyun took a deep breath and looked into Jiyong’s eyes. “I’m not scared of anything,” he answered honestly. Jiyong made him strong and brave. 

The tent was hot, hotter than Seunghyun was comfortable with. “Can I take my shirt off?” he asked. 

“Yes. We will all take our shirts off by the end of this, it will become very hot as time goes on. I will build up the fire so that we will sweat a lot. It will give you a stronger vision when you have the impurities outside of your body, and you will see more clearly,” Tokala said.

The stew tasted nasty. Seunghyun ate the entire bowl of what Tokala had given him, and it set in his stomach like a lead brick. The boys stripped down to their jeans and whatever jewelry Tokala had made for them during those days. They waited, and then Seunghyun was the first one hit. 

Tokala held out a bucket while he puked, wiping the sweat off of his brow with a damp washcloth, giving him a peach to eat to take the taste out of his mouth. He did the same when Jiyong and Dongwook went through it, too, urging Jiyong to eat when all he wanted to do was stare at the colors of the peach, laying the boys down on soft blankets when the world got too big.

Seunghyun felt like he was tiny, and tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes as he looked across the chasm that separated him from Jiyong. In his head, he knew that Jiyong was only a couple of feet away from him, looking at him from his spot on the blanket that Tokala had tucked underneath him, but the grass separating them felt like a forest. Seunghyun knew that he could reach over and touch Jiyong, but he seemed so far away.

The light shining through the tent showed all the colors of the white buffalo hide, yellows and oranges and reds with a slight undertone of green. Seunghyun tried to name all of the colors in the smoke, but he grew tired and frustrated. The tears wouldn’t stop leaking out of his eyes. 

He shut them in frustration. The light seeped through his eyes, but soon all of this didn’t matter. 

He stood on the edge of what looked like a cliff. He could see the striations in the dirt down the sides of the cliff, the years demarcated by the different colors of soil. It looked as if the area was a giant mess of canyons meandering through the valley, and he looked down to see small patches of vegetation trying to survive in the golden colored dirt. 

He looked up into the sky, and saw black thunderclouds. Lightening illumed the sky briefly here and there, and the clouds moved as if they were alive. Soon, Seunghyun saw the edges move as if they were giant wings, and in the center, the clouds formed the head of a great raven.

“I am Wakinyan (thunderbird),” the Raven said to him. “I am your tunkschila (grandfather). I have watched you for many years, and I have been proud of you, hokschila (boy child). You have lived as a warrior, a true warrior of the Hunkpathila band of the Oglala Lakota (People who are scattered). You have been brave and have fought against the children of Unchekula (great horned serpent), who seeks only to harm men.”

Seunghyun wasn’t sure how to react to this, having never been addressed by a spirit before. “Pila maya, tunkschila, (thank you, grandfather)” he found that he was surprised that he was answering in Lakota, and that he even recognized the language in the first place.

“You have come from a band of strong leaders of the Oglala Lakota, and I believe that you will lead your family through a rough time. I do not know why I loved your grandmother, she who came from different soil, but I did. She was so different, yet so very much the same as our people. I have been proud to watch my daughter and my daughter’s son grow in strength and honor.” 

Seunghyun cried, hearing the words that his grandfather spoke. It was an affirmation that he had not received from a grandparent, and it meant a lot to him.

“I wish for you to take care of the demons in the city you live in. Our tribe is poor and hungry, but you will not be able to help them now. Start with the city that you live in, and then visit my people, the people of your cousin. Maybe you will inspire them to a new time of love and celebration.” The Great Thunderbird shrugged its wings, and thunder rumbled through the sky. “This is how to fight the new creatures that invade our land, and I will also tell you the things that were here before Tehaska, the blue-eyed, came to our land.” 

Images assailed Seunghyun, blinding and intimidating in their rapidity, detailed and devastating, how to kill creatures that sought only to harm, how to tend and nuture creatures that were of the light. The most useful piece of information, the one that took the longest for Seunghyun to understand, was the difference between the two.

“Thečhíȟila,” Wakinyan said, and the sky was clear. He loved Seunghyun, and that thought alone brought Seunghyun comfort and confidence in himself. Seunghyun’s grandfather loved him, and that by itself was such a big thought that it shook Seunghyun to his very core.

Seunghyun opened his eyes, startled by the presence of the tent. He looked back over to Jiyong, who was still staring in wonder at the world around him.

The mescaline had not traveled through Seunghyun’s system, either, he realized as he saw the many colors on Jiyong. What he had learned was important, and he needed to talk about what had happened with Tokala, but what was more important at this point was to share the love and the overwhelming feeling of awe he had just felt with Jiyong. 

He found himself leaning over Jiyong, who stared up at him with a pleased expression on his face. He leaned over to taste his lips, shocked by the taste of peaches and Jiyong, exploring the new flavors that he had never been aware of before. He reached down his lover’s body, his fingertips sensitive against the tiny peach fuzz he found there, the comfort of his lover’s thatch, the strong evidence of Jiyong’s desire pointing at his naval. Seunghyun circled it with his hand, marveling at the heat and the silk, stroking it with a smooth circular motion from his wrist. 

He reveled in the sounds that Jiyong made, vaguely aware that there were other sounds of passion in the tent. He ignored that and concentrated on making his love feel as if he were the center of his world. 

Seunghyun blinked a few times as Jiyong pressed him suddenly down onto the blanket, and then watched as he straddled Seunghyun’s hips, biting his lower lip. Seunghyun felt something coating his dick, and he closed his eyes only for a second as his hips lifted against Jiyong, and then he felt Jiyong’s tight muscle sliding down around his shaft.

There was no preparation, and Jiyong was too tight, Seunghyun gasped for breath as he saw the erotic sight of his lover, sliding up and down, his own phallus standing proudly, long and thick, flaring up to Jiyong’s naval. Seunghyun had never seen a sexier sight, and he sat up, one of his large hands covering Jiyong’s dick, the other cupping his lover’s head as he kissed the man again. 

The sounds of desperate love-making on the other side of the tent reached his ears but it was beautiful to him, an appropriate soundtrack to his and Jiyong’s own fucking. Jiyong raised his voice again, begging or promising something, Seunghyun wasn’t sure. All he knew was that the words tasted perfect, and Seunghyun lowered his lover onto his back, still sliding in and out of the man in a slow, sensual assault. 

Seunghyun kissed Jiyong as if the world would end if he stopped moving, aware of everything and nothing around him. He started whispering words of love, foolish promises of the world and the stars and the sky, fulfilling all of Jiyong’s desires, anything if he would only love him for this moment. 

“All I want is you, Seunghyun. All I’ve ever wanted is you,” Jiyong promised him, raising his hips, digging the heels of his feet into the grass below them, sliding himself up and down on Seunghyun in ways that were driving the taller man crazy. 

Seunghyun felt his release coming, and he stroked Jiyong with his warm and sweaty hand, kissing him tenderly and desperately. He had no idea why he felt so urgent about loving Jiyong, about letting Jiyong know how he felt about him, but Jiyong was so beautiful to him then he couldn’t help but trying to communicate those emotions to him. 

Jiyong moaned, coming in long white bursts, and Seunghyun followed him. They lay next to each other, staring and dripping from each other’s love. They touched each other’s faces in wonder, trying to fathom how small the other person was in such a large world, but how big they were in each other’s eyes. 

Sleep claimed them both, filled with dreams of tall grasses tickling their hips as they ran through fields, but the shared dream was over quickly as Seunghyun woke to Jiyong in his arms, with his ass pressed into Seunghyun’s hips. It took nothing to slide into the man again, and he bit and licked the man’s neck, his hand caressing Jiyong’s chest, down to pump in smooth liquid strokes his lover’s rod. Jiyong made content noises, but urged Seunghyun to take him rougher, until Seunghyun had Jiyong on his hands and knees and he grasped his hips, plunging in and out of the smaller man. Jiyong rested his head on his forearms, trying to hold on to his sanity as every stroke Seunghyun made seemed to hit him exactly where he needed it.

They had been lovers for almost a year, and Seunghyun had memorized what made Jiyong tick. He knew every spot to hit, how hard and often to hit it, what rhythm he had to use and he played Jiyong like a fiddle. He surprised him occasionally with a new caress, or a twist of his hips here, or a lick and a nibble there, but while they were on these drugs it was the choreographed dance that they both knew the other liked. 

They made love in front of Tokala and Dongwook, which was something that Jiyong loved. It gave him such a feeling of power that he could turn on more than one man at a time, and that Seunghyun wouldn’t let either of those men touch him, possessive of his lover as he was. Jiyong felt Seunghyun’s hand wrapping around him, and at that point it was all that it took for him to complete. 

The drug started wearing off, and they cleaned each other up and dressed each other, tender with each other. Jiyong sat in the circle of Seunghyun’s lap because he was to sensitive to sit on the ground, and Seunghyun held him in his arms. Jiyong didn’t react well as the mescaline left his system, something that Tokala reassured Seunghyun was normal for some people. He cried as he felt the loss of the improvement on his senses, the loss of the connection to Nature and everyone else. Seunghyun kissed his tears away and reassured him that he was still loved, ran his hands through his lover’s hair, and sang a soft lullaby to him. It was the music that finally soothed him, and Tokala picked up a drum and sang along, charming Dongwook to sing with him. 

Jiyong and Tokala were surprised that Dongwook could sing, and sing very well. The man had a charming tenor, which embarrassed him to display in front of the other men. 

It wasn’t a bad way to wrap the experience up, although they all felt a little silly at the end of it. They picked up their garbage and Tokala buried the fire in the dirt. They helped him take down the buffalo covering and rolled it up, but they left the branches up that formed their tipi. They walked slowly back to the house, with Dongwook and Jiyong comparing experiences in front of Seunghyun and Tokala, who spoke to each other in low rumbling tones that soothed and comforted the other two men even when they couldn’t hear what was being said.

“You spoke to your grandfather?” Tokala asked.

“Yes, in Lakota, which was weird. I understood a language that I had barely even heard except for in movies and TV shows before last week. I was in a place that I had never been before, too.”

Tokala listened as Seunghyun described his experience, putting in helpful information here and there. “He took you to the Badlands? He loves that place, so much. It is one of the most peaceful places on this planet, I think. You can wonder for hours and no one will ever find you, and if you stay too long you can die and no one will find your body for years.”

Seunghyun looked at his cousin. “That’s creepy, dude,” he said. 

Tokala laughed. He paused as they got back to the house, froze and stared in front of him. Seunghyun glanced at Jiyong and Dongwook briefly, and both of them were watching their house in horror.

Surrounding the Victorian mansion were around thirty-five vampires, hissing and hulking, brown and sinister. They stared with greed at the house, hissing with anger and frustration at a single figure standing on the front porch. 

Seunghyun’s heart stopped when he spotted the tiny form of his daughter, who was staring the vampires down with a mighty glare. He heard her tiny voice instructing the vampires, angry and commanding, the moon reflecting off of her bronze hair like a spotlight. He almost ran towards her, his desire to scoop her up in his arms and keep her safe over-riding all other instincts in his body, but Tokala laid a hand on his arm to prevent him from moving.

“Cousin,” Tokala said softly in his low rumbling voice. “You have family behind you now, and your little lady is holding her own. Let’s prepare together, shall we?” 

Seunghyun saw that Jiyong was already holding a larger fireball than he had ever seen him holding previously. Tokala and he drew bow and arrow out of the air together, smiling; their bows were made of thunder like heat wave fluctuating in the air, and they drew arrows made out of lightening. Dongwook pulled a 9mm out of the back of his pants, and with a few quick movements checked how many bullets he had and cocked it. 

The boys looked at each other, smiling with a bit of excitement, and then Tokala let out a loud war cry, and they ran towards the house, intent on saving the little girl, their house, and their dads.


	6. Chapter 6

“Lord,” Jiyong said, resting his hand against his palm, “I am thirsty as a mug.” He sprawled out on the front porch, Wink climbing on top of him, chanting ‘Papa,’ and playing with his blonde hair. She leaned down to kiss him on the lips, and he tickled her a little bit. 

“Stinky, papa,” the little girl said. She climbed off of him holding her nose.

Dongwook laughed at her actions, “We just took down thirty-four vampires, and she wants to complain about the way that her papa smells as we all about die from exhaustion?” 

Taemin passed out iced glasses of sweet tea to the men in various sprawling positions around the porch. He tried not to trip over them. They were all exhausted, tired from their ordeal. 

“Did you see me shoot that one in the eyeball? Straight in the eyeball, clean shot,” Dongwook bragged, taking a hefty gulp of tea. He looked down at Tokala.

“Who taught you to shoot like that?” Tokala asked lying next to his lover with his eyes closed.

“I’m Southern,” Dongwook bragged, “My mama taught me to shoot like that by the time I was twelve.” He loved the look of adoration Tokala gave him at that.

“Man, Seunghyun shot that one in the head, turned right around and punched another one, and then stabbed the last one on him in the mouth with one of those lightening arrows,” Jiyong said of his lover admiringly.

“That was nothing compared to the three you took out at once with one of your fireballs. When did you learn to make them that big?” Seunghyun asked him before laying a brief peck on his lips.

“You’re such a size queen,” Jiyong laughed at him.

“Stinky, daddy,” Wink complained to Seunghyun, sniffing him.

“I’ll shower in a minute, baby doll,” Seunghyun said, kissing his daughter before hugging her tightly against her giggling protests.

“Tokala took out five in a row, just with one arrow, and then he scalped a sixth, before shoving lightening into his chest” Dongwook said, brushing his lover’s face with his thumb. “His hair was flying everywhere; I was scared that it would blind you. We’re going to have to tie it back next time before we get into a fight, okay baby?” 

Tokala sucked on Dongwook’s thumb a little, making the older man suck in a deep breath of arousal. “Of course, anything you wish,” he looked up into his lover’s caramel eyes, admiring his pretty face. 

“Now I understand why all those Greeks were gay,” Seunghyun said, smiling at Jiyong. “You looked so hot fighting those vamps.” 

“Excuse me,” an annoyed female voice came from a chair sitting next to them. “Do I have to watch y’all be faggots, or can you just kill me and get this over with?” 

Dongwook glanced over at the last remaining vampire that they had tied up in the chair. It was the female leader that they had run from the last time, and she looked very less imposing with thick ropes brought in by Onew and tied up with fat complicated knots. He ignored her, shifting his gaze back to his lover. “I think you have a very good point, Seunghyun. You were very hot, Tokala. Fuckably, earth-shatteringly hot. I can’t wait to get you back to our room so that we can…” 

“Please,” she continued, “all it will take is cutting my head off or stabbing me in the heart with a stake. Hell, one of you can fry me with lightning or with one of those fireball thingies. Look, I’ve got ten dollars in my pocket, you could make a profit off of this…” 

Mr. Choi came out of the house, freshly showered and holding a Jack and Coke. “You did good, boys,” he said, stumbling out of the house. He stared down at the vampire, trying to figure out what he needed to ask her. “Taemin, I need you to take my granddaughter inside, please.”   
Taemin scooped little Wink up in his arms and carried the girl inside.

Mr. Choi waited until the door was shut securely behind the two, and then he turned to the female vampire. “Do you know that in South Korea, we have to serve in the military for years? It’s required for every healthy male in the country. Do you want to know what position I served?” 

“Please tell me it’s the executioner’s position,” the vampire spat at him.

“Interrogation,” Mr. Choi answered, taking a swig of his drink. He ran a hand down the brown leathery skin of the vampire’s face. “How did you find out where my boys live?” 

“We…” the vampire remained silent.

Tokala tossed Mr. Choi a very sharp Bowie knife, which he caught without ever turning around to see from where it was coming. Mr. Choi tested the edge of it with his thumb, and then without blinking ran it quickly over the vampire’s high cheekbone. Skin parted so quickly that it took a minute for the blood to catch up with the action. Mr. Choi watched as the skin slowly healed itself. 

The vampire glared, but Mr. Choi seemed satisfied that he had hurt the creature. “How many of your kind know where my boys live?” 

The vampire hissed at him. Mr. Choi cut both of her cheeks, and observed that it took a slightly longer time to heal from the injuries that he had inflicted. “Do I need to repeat myself?” 

“They are sticking their noses where they do not belong. Why are you surprised that they might get those noses cut off?” 

Mr. Choi cut her face again, this time three times. The blade was so sharp that it took many moments for the skin to part. “How many?” 

“There are two other vampire clans in Memphis. They will be sent after your boys if my clan is unsuccessful,” the vampire had blood tears in her eyes, the only acknowledgement of pain that Mr. Choi would get out of her.

“When can we expect the next attack?” Mr. Choi asked. His voice was calm, and Seunghyun was a little unnerved by this side of his father that he had never seen before.

She hissed at him again, and Mr. Choi jerked one of her fangs out of her mouth. She screamed in pain. “I’m only gonna ask nicely one more time, when can we expect the next attack?”

The vampire hissed again, but she dissolved in front of their eyes like an ice cube melting on a car hood in summer. Seunghyun looked behind them just in time to catch a figure running back into the forest, and Tokala took off after it. They waited only a few minutes before the tall Indian came back from the woods. He shook his head, indicating that he couldn’t catch whoever it was that had killed their prisoner. 

Mr. Choi stared at the smoking pile of nothing that was the vampire. He took a deep drink from his Jack and Coke, and then straightened up. 

Seunghyun stared at his father, perhaps seeing him for the very first time. The man that he thought knew nothing more than cars was actually interested in more than what was the bottom of his whiskey bottle. It was a little unnerving, knowing what had actually shaped his father.

Mr. Choi transferred his gaze to his son, uncertainty and guilt arguing on his features for more than a few moments. “I ain’t apologizing,” he said defensively. “I’ll do anything I need to, to keep you boys safe. I’ll do worse than this if that’s what it takes.” 

Seunghyun didn’t know how to respond to this man who looked so much like the love of his life. He wrapped his arms around the man, whispered, “I love you, dad,” and stood there for a good long time. They beat each other on their backs a few times before they pulled away. 

“You stink like Hell, boy. Get yerself inside and wash some of that shit off,” Mr. Choi said.

“Sure, dad,” Seunghyun said. They weren’t going to talk about how both of their eyes had filled up with tears before Seunghyun walked inside and up the stairs to wash off the stink of fried vampire all over himself. 

He felt Jiyong in the bathroom before he saw him as he took his shower. They took the shower together then, and it wasn’t sexual at all. There was comfort in the other man’s touch, comfort and love and trust. Jiyong washed his lover with soothing strokes, and Seunghyun greedily grabbed every aspect of those emotions. 

They dressed in their matching pajamas that Jiyong had bought, and Seunghyun allowed the other man to tuck him into bed before he returned downstairs to put their daughter to bed. Seunghyun cried into his pillowcase, unsure of why he was feeling all of the emotions that were being pulled out of him at that time. Images of his gentle father with the face of a sociopath, vampire clans attacking his family for what seemed to be no good reason whatsoever, his tiny daughter standing without fear in front of those monsters, himself killing so many of them so coldly flashed through his mind at such a rapid pace that it hurt his heart. On top of that, feeling so connected to everything from the vision quest earlier that day had left him with the terrifying thought that those vampires were part of nature, part of himself. 

Jiyong crawled into bed, holding his lover as he cried. Seunghyun was vaguely aware that Dongwook and Tokala joined them on their huge bed, their presences a comfort with their familiarity and Tokala’s shared genetic heritage. Seunghyun couldn’t stop crying, endless silent tears and snot running down his face into the pillow case. It had been too much in one day, too much for him to process. Too much that was not in his control. 

Sleep came, a blessed relief from reality. Images of his grandfather, smiling at him with pride, images of Jiyong, love shining from his eyes, Wink and her curiosity, Dongwook and his imagination, Tokala and his perfect acceptance of a total stranger as family, his dad’s determination, Mr. Kwon’s face with the unmistakable genetic stamp in their facial features, Taemin and Onew’s humor, and lastly his mother, Rose, with so many emotions on her face that Seunghyun had no idea where he would start with them. 

There was nothing that a vampire clan could do against his family. The knowledge came to him like a thick flannel blanket on a cold winter’s night. Nothing that Seunghyun would allow happen to a single one of them. 

Seunghyun woke up, Tokala’s back plastered against his left side with his large copper arms wrapped around Dongwook, and tiny Jiyong on his right side, his face resting on his chest and his left hand resting on his neck. Between them, Wink had somehow inserted herself into their dogpile, and her bronze curls were spread out on Seunghyun’s stomach with her face plasterd against Jiyong’s chest, her tiny little fist holding onto Jiyong’s pajama shirt. 

Seunghyun eased his left hand out from Tokala and Dongwook and wrapped it around his lover and their child. He rested his back against his cousin’s, and took comfort in the physical contact of all of these people who loved him. 

Once again, he felt more than saw Dongwook waking up. He looked over at his college roommate, grinning back at his goofy smile. Dongwook jerked his head, and they got up and headed downstairs together.

Tokala, Wink, and Jiyong would sleep in as long as they let them, and Seunghyun needed the time they had to talk with Dongwook about what had happened the night before. As pervy as his friend usually was, there was no denying that he had a first-class mind.

Seunghyun helped him get pots and pans and ingredients out, and then stared in fascination as Dongwook moved around the kitchen in a kind of secret dance that Seunghyun had never learned. Eggs were broken, biscuits were put into the oven, gravy was stirred, seasoning added to mixtures, waffle batter mixed in a pattern that Seunghyun had not learned growing up. He stared in fascination as Dongwook made breakfast for the horde of people that would be descending the stairs in only a few minutes, as soon as they started smelling the sausage and bacon. 

“What do you think about the information that dad got out of that vampire?” Seunghyun asked bluntly.

“I think it means that there is something larger than three dead bodies being blamed on some white dude going on,” Dongwook said, scooping a waffle out of the iron and pouring another one. “Now, why don’t we talk about what’s really bothering you?”

Seunghyun stared out the window at the flowers that his mother had planted years ago. “I’m scared for my family.” 

“You’re scared for them? You can’t honestly think that your wizard-thunderbird-fairy-interrogator-sharpshooter --that would be me, in case you hadn’t figured it out already-- mixture of a family is in danger from a few vampire clans?” 

“I’m scared ‘cause there is no way that three vampire clans would voluntarily work together,” Seunghyun said. “Something bigger is behind this.” 

Dongwook was quiet for a minute. He moved some more food around, and then wrapped a towel around his neck. “I know.” 

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi walked into the kitchen, deep in discussion. They looked up and seemed to be almost relieved that the only people in the kitchen were Dongwook and Seunghyun. 

“I assume you’ve been talking about the same things?” Mr. Kwon sat at the table with Mr. Choi.

“If you’ve been talking about what’s controlling the vampire clans, then yes,” Seunghyun answered.

Mr. Kwon nodded. “I’m thinking that I’m going to start charging my client for body guards for my family…” 

“Then you’re just going to get people killed. Our boys can handle most anything thrown at them…” Mr. Choi started to say.

“Maybe I should just refer him to another lawyer…” 

“Still death lies that way,” Mr. Choi argued. “Who else is going to have a family that can handle what’s going on?” 

“I hate the thought of my boys in danger,” Mr. Kwon argued.

“They’re my boys, too, Hyunbin. But I ain’t gonna act like there’s anyone else in this blasted city that can handle what our boys can handle. I don’t see a point in putting civilians in danger if this is something that our boys can do…” 

“This isn’t the military, Edward. Our boys aren’t soldiers and I don’t want to expose them to danger if I can help it…” 

“Our boys can handle themselves, Binnie,” Mr. Choi restated himself. “I think that they proved that last night.” 

“What about our granddaughter? She’s only two years old, what if they find her by herself?” 

“I feel sorry for them if they do,” Mr. Choi chuckled a little at that image. He straightened up in his seat as Dongwook put a plate of food in front of him. “We just gotta be careful not to leave her alone.”

“For how long? We don’t even know where the root of the problem is…”

“Mr. Kwon, Jiyong and I have known about things like this our whole lives,” Seunghyun started to say. 

Dongwook put plates of food in front of Seunghyun and Mr. Kwon, and then almost tripped over Wink, who ran to sit in her grandfather’s lap. Mr. Choi fed her bits of egg and praised her for being so smart as to come to him for morning snuggles. 

“We know when to run, and we know when to fight…” Seunghyun said. “We’ll be fine as long as someone can be with Wink and the gardeners at all times…” 

“What happens if Dongwook doesn’t have a gun on him?” Mr. Kwon asked, eating. “What happens to me? I have no martial skills…” 

“We’ll just stick with you. One of us will go to work with you at all times, and we’ll assign someone on Wink duty…” Seunghyun started to say.

Jiyong and Tokala stumbled down the steps at this point, stretching and rubbing their tired eyes. 

“It was weird waking up in bed with your lover, cousin,” Tokala said.

Mr. Kwon’s eyebrows almost shot through the top of his head, but he relaxed a little when the other boys laughed. 

“It’s not what you’re thinking, dad, sheesh,” Jiyong said, sitting down to a plate that Dongwook slid in front of him, inhaling the fragrant steam. 

“One never knows with you boys…” Mr. Kwon said. “I suppose I should make a time chart so that we can make sure that someone is always with Wink…” 

“And you,” Seunghyun added.

“And me…” Mr. Kwon agreed. 

“What are we talking about?” Jiyong asked.

“Not leaving your dad or Wink alone while we figure out what’s happening with these murders and the vampire clans,” Dongwook answered, finally sitting down himself.

“Good idea,” Jiyong said, stuffing his face with Dongwook’s food. 

Dongwook rolled his eyes at the morning ritual of Jiyong eating everything in sight. He glanced over at Tokala, who was never a big breakfast person, and tried to get him to eat more. Wink was busy trying to paint her plate with grape jelly, and Seunghyun tried to get her to eat her biscuit. 

Mr. Choi watched his boys and his granddaughter, feeling pride in knowing that they were self-sufficient and could handle their own problems, and even some of his. He had no idea why he was blessed with such a wonderful family, because the things he had done in his life should have argued against anyone loving him, much less having such a large and happy family. He was so surprised and thankful and grateful that none of them treated him differently or acted scared around him after seeing his true face. Fate often had a way of surprising you that way.


	7. Chapter 7

The gigantic red and white striped tent rose against the green lawn causing furious tremors inside of Seunghyun’s stomach. This was his nightmare, this was the only thing that had caused him to run to his parents bed screaming in the middle of the night, this is what caused him to sweat and shake in the backseat of his parents car when he was a child… this was a Southern Baptist Big Tent Revival. 

Nothing could have made his come to this place of his own free will other than ensuring the safety of his family. Not even that could have made him come to this place alone, and he took comfort in the company of Jiyong, Dongwook, and Tokala at his back. He sucked in as much oxygen as he could, told his mind to calm, and then marched forward to the gospel strains of “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” 

People of every race smiled widely in greeting, their skin tinged red by the sunlight seeping through the fabric of the tent cloth, and reached out their hands to shake his as he made his way past the rows of white chairs until he could find four together for his family. The congregation swayed and clapped, singing in eight part harmonies, raising their voices in hopes that a deity in Heaven would feel their worship. 

The song came to a sweet ending, and the music minister made way for the pastor, who prayed at the front of the Church amid choruses of “Amen,” and “Preach it, brother,” and “Yes Lord, yes!” 

“Is that the guy?” Jiyong whispered to Seunghyun, asking about the minister praying.

“No, I think it’s the one next to him,” Seunghyun whispered back, gesturing to the thinner man standing to the preacher’s right. The preacher wore a black pin-striped suit with a pink shirt and a blue tie, and the associate pastor next to him was dressed a little more stylishly in a grey suit with a white shirt and a black tie. The preacher had skin the color of the night sky, and he towered over the white associate pastor by at least a foot and a half. They were both shining with sweat even with the huge fans pointed at the stage.

Jiyong was distracted by a dark shadow moving at the edges of his vision, and he stared at a sheep-like creature with a human face running up the sides of the tent towards the pulpit. He saw another creature, exactly the same, running up the other side of the tent towards the pulpit again. He swallowed, looking around at the other parishioners, but no one else saw what he was seeing. One of the black creatures stopped and looked him straight in the eyes, and then laughed at him before it went up to join its brothers in front of the church, staring out at the congregation.

Jiyong knew no one else was seeing it, but the way Tokala would tense up every time one of them would pass him indicated to him that his lover’s cousin could feel them. Maybe Seunghyun couldn’t because he was so far away from the edges of the tent. 

Earlier this morning, Mr. Kwon had to go to 201, the jail downtown Memphis, to pick up his client on a ridiculous bail after being deemed not a flight risk. Mr. Kwon’s client had been charged with another three counts of murder, again. The only witness to the crime this time was the Associate Pastor of this church, Light of God Southern Baptist Church, and the boys wanted to ask him some questions about why he would say such a thing. 

“There are demons running all around that man,” Jiyong whispered to Seunghyun. “More than any I have ever seen in my entire life.” 

“You think that’s why he would say such a thing?” Seunghyun whispered his question, hoping that they were being quiet enough to have this conversation. 

“I have no idea,” Seunghyun said, sitting with everyone when the preacher started preaching. There was a sermon about some hellfire and brimstone and the love of Jesus Christ saving the souls of mankind; Seunghyun was pretty entertained at the sing-song way that the preacher delivered it. His church members agreed with what he was saying with more choruses of “Amen,” and “Preach it, brother,” and “Yes Lord, yes!” Sometimes the words were delivered in harmonic counterpoint, which made it strangely beautiful.

Small children folded church bulletins into fans to wave away some of the heat. Ladies sat with fancy hats and floral dresses, all of them wearing white sandals. Men tried to be comfortable in their suits, patting their foreheads with handkerchiefs. Teenagers lounged in the back in jeans, trying to be sneaky about the candy that they kept passing back and forth between them along with notes to each other jotted down in the margins of the bulletin and on offering envelopes. 

The service ended with people walking forward in the aisles and kneeling to pray at the steps of the pulpit, the preacher and the associate pastor and other various deacons praying with them. As people filed out of the tent, happy to be in the breeze outside of it, Seunghyun waited with his family to talk to the associate pastor, who looked at them and then took off out the back of the tent.

Seunghyun raced after him, his family hot on his heels. The associate pastor disappeared into a trailer behind the tent, and Seunghyun knocked on the door loudly.

“What are you gentlemen up to?” the deep voice of the pastor asked, walking up behind them with a look of concerned curiosity on his face.

“Sorry sir, we just need to talk to your associate pastor about some questions…”

The pastor stared down at them, and then reached around Seunghyun to knock on the trailer door. “Hughes, there are some men that want to talk to you,” he called, and the trailer door opened slowly.

“Why don’t we all go on inside?” the Pastor suggested while ushering them all inside the trailer and closing the door behind him softly. Jiyong noticed that the Pastor locked the door, and he started to feel a little nervous.

“What’s this about?” The pastor continued to ask, pouring everyone some lemonade that he kept in the refrigerator. “Why were you running, Hughes? None of these boys look particularly intimidating, and an innocent man never needs to run from a couple of men who are asking questions.” 

“Jeremiah, there were four young guys staring at me the entire service, they just made me nervous…” 

“If you’re nervous, Hughes, it makes me think that you have a guilty heart. Is there something you need to confess? We can leave and you can talk with Jesus about making your soul and your conscience clean…” 

“I haven’t done anything wrong!” Hughes declared. He looked angry. 

Pastor Jeremiah looked at the smaller man for a few minutes, and then he looked at the four Asian men sitting in the trailer with them. He bowed his head, “Father, give me your Wisdom because I feel at such a loss in this situation…” 

Hughes hissed at the pastor, shocking Seunghyun and his family. “Why aren’t you taking my side, Jeremiah? Are you afraid that you will lose your position as pastor because the members of our church might want me to lead them?”

Jeremiah looked up slowly, and for the first time Seunghyun could see age on the man. “No Hughes, I’m not scared of you taking over. If that’s what the Lord wants, then I will accept it rejoicing. I’m more concerned that you might be feeling guilty about something, and guilt will eat a man alive…”

“I’m not guilty…” Hughes protested again.

“You’ve got a lot of demons around you,” Jiyong said, pulling his legs up off the floor as another one walked past him. Tokala and Seunghyun both shuddered with the feeling that they produced. 

“You can see demons?” Jeremiah looked at Jiyong.

“He always has been able to,” Seunghyun confirmed. “Ghosts, too, which can be confirmed by Brother Gabriel at St. Michael’s…” 

“It’s okay,” Jeremiah said. “I’m not one that needs convincing. My mama could see them, too,” Jeremiah pulled out an iPhone, and dialed a few numbers. He said a few words and then he put the phone away. “I’ve called a few others over here, Hughes, because I’m concerned about this situation and I want it taken care of immediately.”

“You’re just trying to discredit me,” Hughes started hissing again, “You’re jealous of the pull I have over our congregation…” 

“No, the only one who should have pull over our congregation is Jesus Christ Himself, Hughes. You losing sight of that is a concern because it was not how we started when we began this ministry. Now, tell these young men what they came to hear while we wait for our other guests to arrive,” Jeremiah still remained peaceful while he commanded his associate.

“I only told the police the truth,” the pale man told Seunghyun and his family. He didn’t even wait for them to ask the questions. “That man killed those men, and I saw it with my own two eyes.” 

“He didn’t kill those men,” Tokala said. “You are lying, and you lied to the police.” 

Hughes hissed again, “I saw them,” he said, banging his head against the trailer wall, “I saw them, I saw them…” he repeated for a while.

Chills ran up and down the back of Seunghyun’s spine, and Jiyong tried to not press himself against Seunghyun in fear as more and more of the sheep people demon things appeared in the trailer. 

“I’m going to have to start praying,” Jeremiah said, watching the other man lose his mind in front of him, “Could y’all open the door as soon as you hear someone on the other side? I’ve got back-up coming.” 

The men nodded, and Seunghyun couldn’t stand to see Jiyong so frightened, so despite the taboo he put his arm around his lover, holding him tightly against him, feeling him shaking in fear at things that only he could see. 

Dongwook stood up to open the door. He was surprised to see a Rabbi and an Imam standing on the other side of the door, but he backed up to let them into the increasingly crowded trailer. 

Both men immediately knelt next to Jeremiah and started praying, which seemed to force Hughes to his knees. Jiyong had tears streaming down his face, fear and the discomfort that the demons brought forcing a physical reaction from him. 

Hughes lay on the floor, prone. Jeremiah, the Rabbi, and the Imam stood on the sides of his body. “Confess,” Jeremiah said softly. “Confess that your soul might be saved.” 

“I saw it! It was dark, and then that man was there! He killed those men! You want me discredited in the eyes of the Church!” Hughes whined into the floor.

Jeremiah shook his head at Seunghyun, Dongwook, Jiyong, and Tokala. “You aren’t going to get anything from this man at this time. You might want to wait outside, because I think your Demon Seer has been harmed more than enough by what’s going on in here.” 

They made their way outside to wait on the grass, and Seunghyun pulled Jiyong into a full embrace. He didn’t care what other people thought when his lover was in this much pain. It took a while, but the holy men walked out of the trailer, deep in conversation. They seemed a little surprised to see the four of them still standing there, with Jiyong in Seunghyun’s arms.

“What information did you need from the man that you would wait here this long?” Jeremiah asked, pulling out his handkerchief to blot at the sweat on his forehead.

“My dad is the lawyer of the man your associate pastor is accusing of murder. He has been charged with first degree murder a few weeks ago, and this is the second time he has been accused of the same thing. When we went to investigate the first time, we ran into a clan of vampires,” Jiyong kept eye contact with Jeremiah, who looked even more tired at that announcement. “They attacked our house, and have endangered my family. I want it to stop. When your associate pastor came forward as a witness, I thought that we could get some answers, but all I have found are demons here.”

The three religious leaders looked at each other, and Seunghyun could tell the men were very tired. “Let’s go to my trailer, gentlemen. There are things that we need to talk about.” 

It was strange, sitting in a trailer with holy men from three major and different religions. 

“We pray to the same God,” the Imam said, “This should not be so surprising,” he responded to Seunghyun’s confused face.

“Our faiths have always been united in Memphis,” the rabbi said. “Christians have allowed Moslems to hold mosque in their church, Moslems come to celebrate the holy days with the Jews, Christians have helped the Jews during hardships caused by plague and storm. We have all traveled to Jerusalem together. It has always been this way in Memphis. We share a common Enemy and a common Ally.”*

Seunghyun hadn’t known this, and apparently neither had Jiyong. Dongwook and Tokala could be excused, because they hadn’t grown up here, but Seunghyun felt vaguely ashamed that he hadn’t known. 

The men started the meeting with a prayer, and ended it with a request for peace in Jerusalem. “You mentioned that you had problems with a vampire clan?”

“Yes, sir. They attacked my family’s home, when my two-year old daughter was only there with her grandfathers for protection… which turned out to be more protection than I had originally thought…” Seunghyun shrugged. 

“You survived a whole clan of vampires attacking you?” the Imam couldn’t seem to get around this statement.

“Yes, and when we took one of them prisoner, she said that there were two more that were coming after us. We had hoped to find out more information concerning that from your associate pastor…” Jiyong said.

“Are you ninjas?” the Rabbi asked. 

“No sir, Ninjas are Japanese, we’re Korean…” Dongwook said. “Oh, but Tokala is Lakota…” 

“Lakota?” Jeremiah asked, confused. 

“Sioux,” Tokala said, “White people call us Sioux, but we don’t really like that. We call ourselves Lakota, except for the Sioux that are actually Dakota or Nakota…” 

“You survived a vampire clan attack?” the Imam asked again.

“Well, it helps that Jiyong is a wizard… that doesn’t offend anyone, does it?” Dongwook asked.

“I have a cousin who has the same problem,” the rabbi confessed. 

“And Tokala and I are Wakinyan…” Seunghyun said.

“Is that contagious?” Jeremiah asked. 

“I am really good at shooting,” Dongwook said. 

“Wow, really? What kind of gun?” the rabbi asked, looking unconfused for the first time. 

“I think we’re ignoring the larger problem here,” Jeremiah said. “Let me make one more phone call, my uncle should be outside helping to clean up the tent from our Revival…” 

It only took a few more minutes after Jeremiah had a rushed conversation on the phone before there was a knock on the trailer door. Jiyong and Seunghyun were both surprised when a shorter black man waited outside the door. He had white hair on the sides of his head, and he had a very kind face. Behind him stood a large black man in a suit with black sunglasses. 

Jiyong and Seunghyun stood immediately on seeing him, and Dongwook and Tokala stood a little slower, looking confused. 

“Mayor Wharton,” Seunghyun said, not able to keep the surprise from his voice. **

“Gentlemen, have a seat please. Don’t stand on my account,” the man’s Southern accent did nothing to hide his precise way of speaking. His bodyguard stood outside the door of the trailer, keeping a lookout. 

“Uncle AC,” Jeremiah greeted the man. “Thank you for coming so quickly.” 

“Your report interested me greatly, Jeremiah. You say these boys lived through a vampire attack?” AC Wharton, Mayor of Memphis sat down with the preacher, the rabbi, and the imam after greeting them all warmly. He obviously had met them all before and so dispensed with the usual pleasantries of greetings. Either that or he was just excited about meeting a group of men who could beat an entire clan of vampires.

Mayor Wharton continued speaking, “I’m going to be honest with you, boys. The way things are going in this city is enough to give any sane man pause when trying to get himself elected into the position of caring for it. If what you claim is true, then there is definitely a place for you here in this city. I have no idea of how to handle a vampire problem, and it isn’t like vampires are the only supernatural creatures this city has issues with. We got all sorts of critters coming in from every country because of our programs for immigrants that we have going on here. I’m sorry that I can’t give you the information that you’re looking for from my nephew’s associate, but I know that we could definitely use you here in Memphis. I’m stepping down after this term. I’d like to know that I left this city in a safer position than when I came here, with people better qualified to take care of it. What would you say to taking care of vampire clans full time?”

Seunghyun and Dongwook glanced at each other before looking at their significant others. “Sir,” Dongwook said, “I don’t know about that. We’d have to discuss it with our family. My niece is two years old, and I don’t want to endanger her, and my friends fathers are getting up in age. Fighting like this comes home with a body.” 

Mayor Wharton nodded again. “Let me put together a proposal to entice you men. We can talk again after you see it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is not something that I made up. Memphis is the weirdest place in the world for religion. I’ve gone to Temple with Muslims, I’ve sat in Church with Jews, and I’ve gone to Mosque services held inside a Church while they were waiting for their holy place to be built across the street. God’s Big Three all get along very well with each other in Memphis. After 9/11, some ignorant rednecks shot up a mosque downtown, and for a few days afterwards Christians and Jews sat outside to make sure that it didn’t happen again. We have the stupidest problems with race, but for some reason we’re all united in religion. 
> 
> ** Mayor Wharton is the coolest mayor Memphis has had in a very long time. I’m not even in the same political party as he is, and I think that he rocks. I could so see him doing what I’m making up if the threat was real, because he’s a man who just takes care of business.


	8. Chapter 8

“Should we take this job?” Jiyong asked, wearing a striped robe as he walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a fluffy white towel. 

Seunghyun put the papers down on the bed next to him. He only wore a loose fitting pair of pajama pants, and he smirked when he saw Jiyong’s eyes travel up and down his body. He stood up and walked over to his lover, gently toweling his hair dry. “I don’t know. Do you really want to be a lawyer? You’ve still got two years left of pre-law. I would hate to see you throw all of that away on a job that we’re not going to be able to use on a resume for another job, and for something we won’t be able to really get promotions with. Plus, if we do this job correctly, there won’t be any supernatural creatures to fight…” 

“I think that’s kind of like saying if the police do their jobs correctly, they’ll run out of criminals, too,” Jiyong looked at Seunghyun with a wry look on his face. 

Seunghyun bent down to teasingly kiss it off, but he lingered a little longer than he had planned. Jiyong just tasted so good, and he melted into his body any time Seunghyun kissed him, and he fit so right. And then Jiyong reached up to rub the patch of skin right underneath Seunghyun’s ear, and damn it if the man didn’t know how that made him feel. 

“We need to talk about… mmm… the vampires…” Seunghyun gasped as Jiyong sucked his earlobe into his mouth, ran his tongue around the shell of his ear while caressing the back of his neck. It was getting hard to concentrate on things they needed to discuss, and after a few more minutes Seunghyun gave it up. He picked his lover up and carried him to the bed, where he threw him hard enough to bounce once. Seunghyun waited until Jiyong was coming back down before he stretched his long body on top of his lover, leaning his head down with heavy lidded eyes to kiss him with a small degree of urgency.

“You act like you haven’t touched me in a long time, Hyunnie,” Jiyong said a little breathlessly.

“It feels like forever whenever we are apart, and it’s doubled when we go to places where I know that I shouldn’t touch you,” Seunghyun confessed, leaning up a little to untie the fleece rope keeping his lover’s robe shut. 

Jiyong just smiled his big toothy grin up at his lover, marveling at the intense expression on his face. Seunghyun rewarded him with a slow grind of his body against him, and Jiyong closed his eyes and arched his back so that he could press up against his lover. He moaned a little, and Seunghyun almost swore he made that sexy noise on purpose to get him harder. 

“I feel like I can never get enough of you,” Seunghyun said, kissing Jiyong’s full lips. “You’re like a drug, and I’m your junkie.” 

Jiyong responded by kissing his way down Seunghyun’s bare chest, shedding his robe on the way. It left him naked, and he dipped his head to take Seunghyun down his throat. Sliding up and down the man left him writhing, cursing for more friction, for a tighter grip. He begged Jiyong, made silly promises, whined phrases of poetry to Jiyong’s lips and tongue, talked nonsense for what felt like hours until Jiyong rose back up and slid himself down Seunghyun’s shaft. 

“God, your voice Seunghyun,” Jiyong said, riding up and down, staring at him from above, reaching behind him to grab his own ankles so that Seunghyun had a full view of his body and Jiyong could support himself. 

Seunghyun pulled himself up on his elbows to watch the erotic display Jiyong was giving him. He reached forward with one hand to gently stroke Jiyong’s cock, smiling up at his lover. “What about my voice?”

“I love the way it just rumbles out of you, so deep and smooth. Your voice alone is a seduction. Even when we were kids I was always jealous you never had a high pitched voice, and when you talked people would listen. When your voice changed,” Jiyong couldn’t suppress the shudder that went through his body, and Seunghyun adjusted the angle of his dick so that it hit the inner wall of Jiyong’s rear passage, sliding up that wall until it hit his prostate, making Jiyong lose all sense of whatever he was talking about while he mindlessly impaled himself on Seunghyun in a frantic rhythm. Seunghyun had to lean back on the bed, losing control of his mind and his body at the same time, thrusting up to meet Jiyong with desperate movements until he finally lost his mind in a moment of pure white bliss. He felt Jiyong’s completion hitting his chest and stomach, and he reveled in that reaction from his lover for a moment before opening his eyes. 

Jiyong was staring at him, tracing his features with his eyes, happy and content and satisfied. 

“When your voice changed, I got my first hard-on without me having to touch it at all one morning at the kitchen table,” Jiyong said, and it took Seunghyun a minute to remember they were taking about his voice. “You came in before school one morning to bring dad the paper, and he asked you about something, and you answered and I don’t remember the words, I just remember that you said them and I was trying to swallow my toast with jelly. I had to hold my backpack in front of my pants while we walked the whole way to the bus stop.”

“God, all that from my voice?” Seunghyun asked, a little embarrassed. 

“I think you underestimate the power of your voice… all rumbly like thunder,” Jiyong said.

“I wonder if its part of me being a thunderbird?” Seunghyun asked. “Tokala has the same voice.”

“But he doesn’t have your eyes. You sound alike, but you are so much better looking,” Jiyong said, snuggling into Seunghyun’s side.

“I think you’re a bit biased there, lover,” Seunghyun smiled widely, leaning down to kiss his lover.

“Mmm… maybe,” Jiyong admitted, “I’m glad Tokala is here though. I was scared that Dongwook was going to steal you from me.” 

“Dongwook can’t steal me, baby. I’m yours, I always have been.” Seunghyun ran his hand through Jiyong’s silky hair, kissing the top of his head. “I always will be yours, no matter what happens.” 

“Forever and ever?” Jiyong asked.

“And beyond,” Seunghyun confirmed. He fell asleep, holding the most precious person he had ever met in his arms, content and happy. 

“I need you to wake up, boys,” Mr. Kwon knocked on their door hours later, although it was still dark. “There’s people in the house.” 

Seunghyun and Jiyong both were up, pulling on pants. Dongwook was already in Wink’s room, laying out guns that he and Mr. Choi had gathered together, locking the side doors to her room and barricading himself in with Wink.

Tokala stood at the end of the hall, and then ran downstairs with his cousin and his lover, leaving Dongwook upstairs to defend Wink. 

Tokala took the form of a raven and flew over Seunghyun’s and Jiyong’s heads, landing on Seunghyun’s shoulder as they made it down to the first floor entry hall.

Six men and one woman, all in suits, pulled guns on them, screaming, “FBI!” and “CIA!” and “Department of Homeland Security!”

Jiyong, Seunghyun, Mr. Kwon, Mr. Choi, Taemin, and Onew all froze with their hands in the hair, Tokala’s bird body shaking on Seunghyun’s shoulder, as they stared at the people in their entry way. 

“Is this everyone in the house?” one man approached them with his gun pointed at them, his badge shining from the moonlight.

“No, sir,” Mr. Kwon said. “We have one more man and a minor upstairs, he is armed with many guns as we were not expecting company. It would be best if you sent one of us upstairs to retrieve him; however, I would like to see some documentation allowing you to enter my premises.” 

The men and the woman all lowered their weapon, but they did not holster them. Mr. Kwon invited them to have a seat in the formal parlor, and after Dongwook and Wink had been led downstairs, Dongwook went to the kitchen to retrieve sweet tea and coffee.

Mr. Kwon looked over the papers that the woman had been holding in her briefcase, adjusting his glasses to the print and turning on a light. 

Seunghyun thought it was strange that Tokala chose to stay as a bird, but no one said a word about it. He fluttered over to Dongwook’s shoulder as soon as the man entered the room and stayed there, swaying slightly back and forth with Dongwook’s movements.

“We have one more person we would like to bring into the house, but we weren’t sure if you would be hostile towards our group,” the woman said, smiling at Jiyong.

“It might serve you better in the future if you make an appointment,” Mr. Kwon said, disapprovingly.

“We are only here to speak with Jiyong Kwon, sir,” the woman said, keeping her eyes on the boy. 

Seunghyun thought that she might be flirting with his lover and that kind of tickled his funny bone a bit.

By that time, an older woman in an all black dress walked in. She had silvered hair and a mink coat, at odds with the warm temperatures from the outside. “Did you not give these boys a chance to put some clothing on?” she asked in a creaking, Russian accented voice.

The men in the room stood, but the woman ignored her and continued to smile at Jiyong. 

“You’re not his type, hussy. You might as well give up now,” the older woman told her. “So, you’re the wizard?” she looked at Jiyong. “You don’t look like much of one. Why are you so short?” 

“Um, I’m Asian?” Jiyong asked.

The older woman sighed, but helped herself to some coffee that Dongwook offered her. “I take it you’re Dr. Choi?” 

Dongwook blinked a few times, “Yes, ma’am,” he smiled at her. 

“I know your mama, that’s a right fine lady there. I went to school with her. She’s got a real quick mind,” the woman said, mixing some cream into her coffee. 

“Thank you… I didn’t catch your name?” Dongwook said, sitting across from the older lady, Tokala adjusting his weight on his shoulder. 

“I’m Ekaterina Azarov. You might want to tell that man on your shoulder that he is being rude, and unless he isn’t presentable I’d appreciate it if he would change,” the woman looked at Tokala as the raven.

Tokala left the room to change and appeared a few moments later in thin blue sleeping pants, his hair hanging down to his waist, glaring in hatred at the government workers.

“An Indian, no wonder you were being rude,” Ekaterina said. “Well, have a seat, Indian. I have no idea why you are in this house, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to have absolutely nothing to do with this conversation.” Ekaterina took a sip of coffee. “Jiyong Kwon, I hear that you’re a wizard of some power. You successfully took out a vampire clan. How many vampires would you say were in this clan?” 

“There were thirty five, but I didn’t do it by myself…” 

“Yes, I’m sure that these people helped you out a lot, but I’m more interested in you. What spells do you know?” 

“Ma’am?” Jiyong asked, looking at the agents standing behind her. 

“They’re under my orders right now, Jiyong, you don’t need to worry about them. You’re twenty years old?” Ekaterina asked another question.

“Yes, ma’am…” 

“Second year pre-law at University of Memphis… you could have attended a much better school with your grades…” 

“I didn’t want to leave home…” 

“Are you and Seunghyun Choi lovers?” 

“Ma’am?” 

“And you just got custody of a little girl… Wink Fidchell? You adopted her with your lover?” 

The younger woman glared at Seunghyun as she flounced back in her seat.

“I didn’t know that they allowed gay adoption in Tennessee,” Ekaterina pulled out some papers and put them on the coffee table in front of Jiyong. “This is our offer to you, Jiyong Kwon. We can train you and get you your law degree in three years. I can teach you to use your magic, and you can return an agent of the United States government. We are technically under the authority of Homeland Security, and we would let you be in charge of the Memphis branch of our organization. You’ll have to leave your family for three years, but there’s nothing that I can do about that…” 

“Wait, what are you talking about?” 

“You have a special gift, Jiyong Kwon. We can train you to use it for the protection of all citizens in this great country of ours. Either that, or we can lock you up for appearing in public being armed and dangerous. It’s not much of a decision now, is it? And then if we do that, we’re going to have to take custody of your little girl, who seems like she has the same powers…” 

“I am not a wizard,” Wink announced from behind Seunghyun’s chair.

“Why don’t you come out and let me see you, little girl?” the older woman said. 

Wink appeared, glaring, with her arms crossed in front of her.

“One of the Fair Folk,” Ekaterina said, a little surprised. “Oh, they would love to know a wizard is raising one of their own. I guess you have to come with me to make sure I don’t tell them that she’s here.” 

“Listen, you can’t bully my son…” Mr. Kwon started to say.

“You want to lose your license for harboring a criminal in your house?” Ekaterina asked.

“A criminal? What crime has he commited?” Mr. Kwon was outraged.

“He is a weapon, Mr. Kwon. How many times has he been on federal property? He works in a courthouse, does he not?” Ekaterina was still calm, and she started picking at something underneath one of her obnoxiously long nails. 

Seunghyun picked Wink up and cradled her against his chest. “We can run…” he started to say.

“Is that the kind of life you want to give your daughter?” Ekaterina asked him. 

“We need Jiyong now, we are under attack from vampire clans and we need him to help protect us. If you take him from us, you will be endangering our lives.” 

“Pish-tosh,” the woman waved aside their concerns. “The vampires in this area are under the control of a demon, who simply needs to make three more sacrifices before he can take control of the Mississippi River, which he wants to use to make a profit on the trade that happens. I can tell you how to kill the demon and eliminate the threat.” 

“I can’t leave here,” Jiyong said. “I’ve been here my whole life, and I can’t leave my daughter and Seunghyun…” 

“You misunderstand, boy, if you think that you have a choice. You cannot take them, and you must come with us. Tonight. You’ll be back, and if he loves you he will wait for you,” Ekaterina said. 

“You government assholes think that people’s lives are simple playtoys…” Tokala stood, growing angrier by the second. “You do this to people all the time…” 

Dongwook pulled his lover back to sitting next to him on the loveseat when the other men in suits started raising their weapons against the big Indian. 

“What tribe are you?” Ekaterina asked, glaring at him.

“Oglala…” 

“Damn Sioux Indians. What the hell are you doing off your reservation, skin?” Ekaterina spat. “Shouldn’t you be drinking someplace?” 

Dongwook was getting angry, too. “There’s no call to be rude to my boyfriend,” he started to say.

“Does your mama know you took an animal to your bed?” Ekaterina asked. She turned back to Jiyong, ignoring Dongwook and Tokala. “Let’s get going, Jiyong. I’m a busy woman, and I have a million other things that I have to do today.” 

“I am not going…” Jiyong started to say before each of the men in suits started pointing guns at his family member’s heads. 

“I will fight this,” Mr. Kwon started to say.

“You can try, Mr. Kwon, but who will believe you?” Ekaterina smirked at him. “What are you going to say? The United States government took my son to train him with his magical powers and they’re going to return him in three years with a law degree? They’ll lock you up so fast…” 

There was a knock at the door, and everyone froze. Dongwook walked over and let in Mayor Wharton, Pastor Jeremiah, the imam, the rabbi, and Mayor Wharton’s body guard. 

“I’m so sorry, I just heard what was going on,” Mayor Wharton apologized as soon as he walked in.

Seunghyun took the opportunity to wrap himself around Jiyong, and started the process of shifting into a bird with Jiyong and Wink in his arms. 

“No,” Jiyong whispered as the others around them broke out into arguments. “They’ll hunt us down, they’ll make us go to jail, and they’ll take Wink away. It’s only three years, we’ve been separated for longer, we can do this, lover. Let me take care of our family, okay?” 

Seunghyun kissed Jiyong’s tears, kissed his lips, desperately trying to memorize every last bit of him as he was torn out of his arms, Wink screaming and reaching for her papa, Mayor Wharton and Mr. Kwon protesting loudly, Tokala glaring at the government workers as he held Dongwook back, Taemin and Onew scared in the corner, the bodyguard trying to stop the federal government agents from moving, and the preacher, the imam, and the rabbi all trying to calm everyone down. 

The night ended with Seunghyun’s worst nightmare coming true.

Jiyong was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s History Note (You have been warned) :There is historical precedence for Jiyong’s abduction by the federal government, which Tokala would be very aware of. During the beginning of the 1900s, federal agents entered the Sioux Indian Reservations and took the children in an effort to teach them how to be “white.” Children were placed in boarding houses and separated from their families, and when they were returned they had no way of speaking to their families because they couldn’t speak Lakota and their families could not speak English. This was not made illegal until 1973 when it was already falling out of “fashion,” but by that time Lakota customs had been irrevocably damaged and many forgotten. I grew up hearing about nightmares like this, and things I went through years later they had a lot of red tape that they had to get through because of the laws against taking Native American children away from their families. Jiyong of course isn’t going to have anything as traumatic as his entire culture changed; I just wanted to point out this similarity because I like to keep my supernatural story semi-realistic.


	9. Chapter 9

According to the paperwork Ekaterina had left behind, killing the demon required a simple ceremony with slightly strange ingredients that were easy to find once they found Maggie’s Pharm off of Madison Avenue downtown. The store had all sorts of organic herbs and magical relics, but they got out of there after only spending $15 on supplies. 

Seunghyun methodically mixed the ingredients with only a little help from a concerned Dongwook. The mixture was dried and looked like a lot of grass grated up with some bark for color in a beautiful ceremonial crystal bowl.

They walked downtown to the docks after parking in a spot that Seunghyun and Jiyong had parked only a few years before, Seunghyun and Dongwook and Tokala, a strangely still and silent trio, deliberately walking past werewolves and dockworkers, tired and dejected. 

There was an old barge, metal and dangerous, floating on the currents of the Mississippi. The three men climbed up, and then descended the ladder. Dongwook pointed a gun, occasionally firing as men ran up to them shooting them with an almost lackadaisical air about him. They walked up to the big desk in the middle of the room, Tokala frying one or two guys with a well-placed lightning bolt to the chest stopping their hearts, or Dongwook with a bullet between their eyes. Seunghyun unceremoniously dumped the crystal bowl’s contents on top of the head of the beautiful human-looking creature sitting in the rolling chair behind the desk, and then they turned and walked away as the creature screamed in pain, melting into the chair behind them. 

“How are you holding up?” Dongwook finally asked the question that he and Tokala had debated just the night before. “It’s been a week.” He reloaded his 9mm, and shot another guy who ran up to them. 

“I don’t know. I can’t feel anything,” Seunghyun confessed, tightening the ponytail he had tied at the crown of his head before joining his cousin in frying some bad guys. 

Tokala wrapped his arms around Dongwook and changed into a raven, and Seunghyun opened the door to let them out before he flew away, too. They transformed back at the car, and Tokala found his clothing while Dongwook put his guns into the trunk of the car. 

“It’s like, I keep thinking that as soon as I get home he’s going to be there. Or I’ll wake up after dreaming about him, and he isn’t there and I’m so confused. I wake up every single morning only to lose him all over again.” 

Dongwook settled in the front seat of the Charger that Jiyong had given Seunghyun for Christmas, Tokala stretching out in the backseat. Seunghyun pulled away in the car. “Anyone want to go to Beale Street?” 

They decided to drive over a few blocks, and they headed straight to the slushy bar after Seunghyun handed his keys off to his cousin, who declared himself the designated driver for the night. 

Several Call-a-Cabs later, Dongwook and Seunghyun shared redstained lips and tongues, and they found themselves outside the New Daisy Theatre, with the same group of friends that Seunghyun had gone to high school with. They stood around, rapping and singing and Dongwook started dancing with some of the girls, impressing both Tokala and Seunghyun with some of his moves. 

Tourists threw some money in the open guitar case in front of one of the boys who had graduated from a neighboring high school of Seunghyun’s and now worked full time as a construction worker, playing the guitar mariachi style while Seunghyun made up a rap about Dongwook’s dancing skills. Dongwook sang back to him about how dancing was indicative of how good a man was in bed, and immediately entered into a dance-off between himself, a black boy, and a white girl. Tokala picked up a drum and kept rhythm with some other bongo players. 

The night was over too quickly, Seunghyun decided as their group started breaking up. He looked around for a minute, and remembered that Jiyong wasn’t with him. He followed Tokala back to his car, silent and brooding. 

Sitting in the backseat, he stared out the window. It was only three years, he promised himself. He had lasted longer before. 

But before, he hadn’t tasted everything that Jiyong was. He hadn’t known all of what he was missing. Three years now was going to be an eternity.

It wasn’t a question if Jiyong was worth it; he most definitely was. It was the first time that Seunghyun had ever doubted himself. He wasn’t sure if he would be patient enough to wait for his lover to come back. Not that he thought that he would cheat on Jiyong, but what if he just wanted to not wait? 

Seunghyun got out of the car with his cousin and Dongwook. The mansion looked like such a lonely place to him, standing three stories into the sky with a fourth story tower. It loomed, if Seunghyun was going to be honest, a dark shape against the night sky. Seunghyun briefly wondered if he was going to become like one of those emo kids with thoughts like that.

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi were busy, sitting at the kitchen table. They were going over the paperwork the Mayor had sent over, designing what was to become Seunghyun’s offices. Mayor Wharton had decided the best way to prevent the future abductions of his supernatural community in Memphis was to make them state employees, and what better way to employ them than by policing themselves. 

Seunghyun and Mayor Wharton had spent time coming up with generic sounding job titles so that they could be reportable. They were going to be part of the Memphis City Police Department, Occult Division. Seunghyun was going to be in charge, and he was directed with staffing his office, which was going to be located downtown in one of the huge, old abandoned buildings along the trolley line. 

Seunghyun liked it. It was decorated with beautiful Victorian motifs, it had huge windows and he had already talked Daesung and Seungri into keeping a candy and comic book store on the ground floor in order to keep nosy citizens distracted from what was going on in the five floors above that. The offices were large and spacious, and Pastor Jeremiah had sent over members of his church to help with decorating and renovating, all on the budget that Mayor Wharton had discovered his predecessor had allocated to the demon that Seunghyun, Dongwook, and Tokala had just killed with that grassy substance to deal Meth for him. 

Dara and Bom had already been recruited to be his chief secretaries. Brother Gabriel had requested special leave from the Catholic Church to set an office up on the third floor, and his official position was Religious Advisor. Dongwook had requested copies of folklore books from libraries around the world, and was expecting deliveries any day now in his position as Chief Records Keeper. Tokala became the Chief Building Engineer, which he said was better than being called a janitor. 

Seunghyun reviewed the business contracts again, choosing companies who would be in charge of drink machines, snack machines, coffee machines; companies that would be in charge of cleaning, supplying toilet paper, supplying office supplies; companies that would be in charge of building maintenance. He reviewed recommendations that Mayor Wharton had suggested, hiring other people with supernatural abilities, finding someone to manage office workers, an accountant for payroll, an on-site psychiatrist…

There was a lot of work to do, and Seunghyun welcomed it all, anything to get his mind of Jiyong for a minute, or five minutes even. He would feel guilty if it was any longer than that, because maybe Jiyong would be hurt if he wasn’t missed or thought about. 

Seunghyun moved into the room next to Wink’s, across the hall from Dongwook’s and Tokala’s. He couldn’t stand staying in Jiyong’s room because there were too many memories.

Months passed in this manner. Minute by minute, hour by hour, week by week. Seunghyun kept himself busy. He threw Wink a huge birthday party, inviting other families from Pastor Jeremiah’s and Brother Gabriel’s and Rabbi Patterson’s and Imam Khalid’s churches and temples and mosques. He had twenty people working for him, and they were getting requests from other Memphians for help with supernatural problems. Sometimes, the ghosts turned out to be old water heaters, but there were other times when some werewolves needed silver bullets. The Occult Division of the Memphis Police Department was slowly growing. 

A year passed. Tokala disappeared one night. Dongwook spent a lot of time alone after that, sitting on the front porch, waiting to see if he would come back, but there had been too many fights, too many disagreements. He threw himself into work with Seunghyun, both of them coming home to spend time with Wink, who adored her Daddy and her Uncle Wookie. She liked to listen to stories about her papa, but she didn’t remember him, didn’t really understand who they were talking about. Seunghyun stubbornly told her about him anyway, and Wink watched her poor daddy with sad eyes every time that he did. 

Another year. Seunghyun watched his baby get on the Kindergarten bus before he went into work late that day. Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi were going to take turns picking her up after kindergarten let out at noon, and that arrangement worked well for Seunghyun and Dongwook. Wink made friends with lots of little girls, and soon she was invited over to their houses. Mothers from her kindergarten class would make excuses to come over and visit with Wink’s daddy and Uncle Wookie, who were both kind and polite but never took a single one of them up on their offers to help raise little Miss Wink Choi, who must have felt so alone in such a big house with so many good-looking men. Mr. Choi started Tae Kwon Do with Wink every day before she went to school and the girl moved with such grace that he was soon bragging about her to everyone he met. His granddaughter, the Tae Kwon Do prodigy. 

Another year, Seunghyun started perking up. Things were getting better, the Memphis Police Department now swore that it could not do without its Occult Division, now numbering close to one hundred employees. Seunghyun was training Chief of Occults from other cities, declining invitations to visit those cities and make recommendations on account of his daughter, who was terrified of being away from Seunghyun for long periods of time. Abandonment was one of her greatest fears. 

Seunghyun sat on the front porch every night until winter set in, and he watched the front porch every night from a chair near the front door until exhaustion set in that night. Wink was in first grade, and was starting to wonder if her papa was a spell cast by an evil sorcerer who wanted to watch her daddy pine for someone who was never going to come back. She had other things to think about though, because she was winning Tae Kwon Do tournaments. 

And at the end of the third year, Jiyong was still not back. 

Seunghyun started counting the time by how long it would take Wink to fall asleep so that he could start drinking. His employees whispered about him behind his back, the women speculating that he waited for a woman of unsurpassed beauty, some of the men gossiped that he had been to war and was dealing with post traumatic stress. The few who knew what was really going on kept their mouths shut.

What could Seunghyun do? It wasn’t like he could pick up a phone and call Jiyong. It wasn’t like they had been allowed contact with each other at all. 

Another year. Work was the same, it had an established pattern: introduction to a new case, investigation, moments of abject terror, solving the case, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. 

Seunghyun started to love Dongwook a bit more. Not romantically, but with a deep respect. Dongwook took care of Seunghyun but never hit on him, never tried to demand affection or attention. He respected Jiyong’s place and never tried to step into it. 

It was Mr. Kwon himself who forced the issue one night. They sat on the front porch, illuminated by citronella candles. “You’ve been waiting for my son for eight years in total, Seunghyun. Four years in Atlanta, four years at home.” 

Seunghyun looked at him, and then back at the amber color of his Scotch. It was as dark as Jiyong’s eyes. “Yes sir. I’ve gotten good at waiting.”

“That’s a long time for any man.”

“I wait, sir. It’s what I do.” 

“Your friend Dongwook has waited for you, just as long. I don’t think my son is coming back,” Mr. Kwon swallowed deeply. “Dongwook is a good man, Seunghyun.” 

Seunghyun sipped at his Scotch. 

“Dara loves you, too. I’ve watched that girl blossom into a fine woman. She’s a hard worker…”

Seunghyun didn’t say anything. He lowered his head so that Mr. Kwon couldn’t see his face, but it didn’t hide the tears falling from his eyes. “I wait, sir,” he said again, his deep voice shaking, thunder rumbling from the sky. “It’s what I do.” 

Mr. Kwon said nothing. He stood and rested his hand on Seunghyun’s shoulder, paused for a minute to wipe tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, and then continued inside. 

Five years. Then six. Seven years, and Seunghyun was fixing Wink’s elementary graduation robes. He arranged her curls, wishing Jiyong was there to put bows in her hair or make her as pretty as the other girls. Dongwook tried a few things, but he had no clue on what to do. It finally fell to Taemin, who knew enough to buy a barrette with a bow already hot glued to it in the same color as Wink’s robe. 

The men watched their little girl walk down the center of the aisle to accept her diploma, her green eyes shining with pride as she held the tiny scroll. 

There was a graduation party. Members of the Memphis Police Department came and celebrated, Bom and Dara who had recently returned from Hawaii with a marriage certificate showed up, cake was eaten and champagne and white sparkling grape juice consumed. 

Wink won a state tournament with her Tae Kwon Do. 

Mr. Choi died. 

Dongwook held Seunghyun that night, held him through the entire night. He didn’t take advantage although he wanted to, didn’t press for things that weren’t his. The funeral was going to be small, but military officers flew in from South Korea, men who had worked along side his father. His father had been an asset to the country of his birth, he was remembered, he was loved.

Seunghyun turned thirty. The party was small: Dongwook and Seungri and Daesung and Brother Gabriel, Mr. Kwon and Wink. Tokala showed up for a few hours. The others had families of their own, and Seunghyun didn’t want anyone else there. 

Dongwook and Seunghyun drank for long hours on the porch that night. 

“I want you to think about something, Seunghyun,” Dongwook said, slightly slurring his speech from the alcohol. 

“Alright Dongwook, I’ll think about it,” Seunghyun smiled at his friend. “What do you want me to think about?” 

They were rocking on the porch swing, a slow rhythm. Dongwook slowly leaned over and kissed Seunghyun’s lips. Seunghyun froze, he didn’t know what to do. Too many thoughts entered his head, and Dongwook slowly, slowly kissed him again, parting those full lips over Seunghyun’s, touching Seunghyun’s lips with the tip of his tongue.

It had been so long since Seunghyun had physically touched anyone, and he loved Dongwook who had stood by his side for so long and through so many things. He kissed Dongwook back, hesitating, slow. His hand shook as he lifted it to push the older man’s hair back, to caress his cheek. Dongwook moaned into his mouth, a needy sound of pent-up love and lust, escaping into the only man he had ever waited for. 

Seunghyun was crying, though, and Dongwook pulled back, kissing his face, kissing his eyes and his nose and his cheeks and his forehead. “I know, I know, I know,” he chanted, holding him to his chest. He didn’t know, didn’t know what kind of willpower this man had to possess to wait so long for a man, wasn’t sure if giving up would permanently injure a man like this. 

Dongwook slept with Seunghyun again that night, chastely. He stared at Seunghyun as he slept, stared at the face of the man he loved so much until his eyelids shut, too heavy to keep open. When he woke up the next morning, Seunghyun was staring at Dongwook with a blank expression on his face. Dongwook braced himself to be yelled at, but Seunghyun quietly prepared for work, and Dongwook silently went down the stairs. Words didn’t need to be said when actions were fine for now. 

Wink was downstairs, looking over a book report that she had been working on for a whole week. She swung her feet back and forth at the kitchen table, happily talking to Mr. Kwon about a creepy boy who had pulled her hair in class the other day. The sound of her happy voice carried up the stairs to where Seunghyun sat for a few minutes, thinking. He came to a decision. 

Seunghyun walked down the steps, smiling at his family. For the first time in years, he felt free. They were here, they loved him, and they would love him no matter what choice he made with his life. He knew this. He knew what he was going to do now; he knew where his life was going. It was time. 

He opened his mouth at the same time the kitchen door opened. “I’m home!” Jiyong called into the Kwon mansion.

**Author's Note:**

> Tokala Clifford is really a celebrity amongst Native American peoples. He’s a movie star, and he’s served as Ambassador for his people to argue for their welfare in front of the United States Senate when he was 13 years old… which if I remember correctly was in 1996. He is completely gorgeous, and I fan girl over him all the time. He and TOP really have the same voices… it freaked me out a little the first couple of times I heard TOP talk. 
> 
> Oh, and for those of you who don't know, the white people call us Sioux and not Lakota. The Sioux are actually made up of three nations: The Lakota, the Dakota, and the Nakota.


End file.
